


To Catch a Cheater

by PickYourPoison98



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bottom Eren Yeager, Crack Treated Seriously, Detective Hange, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Levi and Petra are rich, M/M, Married Levi/Petra Ral, Nervous and submissive Eren, Nonbinary Hange Zoë, Prostate Massage, Rookie cop Eren, Smut, Top Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2020-05-15 12:42:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 49,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19295989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PickYourPoison98/pseuds/PickYourPoison98
Summary: Petra enlists a reluctant Hange to help her set her husband Levi up to see if he's willing to cheat. Against their own best advice, Hange follows through with the plan and decides to use Eren, a rookie from work, as their accomplice in this scheme.BIG mistake.





	1. Chapter 1

Petra waited nervously for Hange to show up at her home. Knowing that she was finally going through with this absolutely terrified her. However, she could no longer ignore that aching feeling deep within the pit of her stomach. This had been bothering her for months now, and her husband Levi was starting to get suspicious. And how ironic was that? How could _he_ be suspicious of her? He was the entire reason she was having to do this after all! Because she’d known him for so many years she thought she knew who she was marrying when she said, “I do,” but apparently, she was wrong! After about ten years their marriage seemed like it was falling apart and Petra had been given three choices: she could leave without reconciliation, or she could try to fix this.

 _Or_ . . . she could set Levi up.

Which was _exactly_ what she planned to do.

Thankfully Hange knew how to go about orchestrating something like this, because Petra was absolutely lost, having no idea where to even start. Upon hearing a knock on the door, she sighed in relief.

“Coming!”

Petra quickly made her way over to the door and opened it, stepping aside and urgently coaxing Hange in.

“Calm down Petra!” Hange chuckled. “There’s no need to rush! Levi won’t be back for hours.”

“I know,” Petra said. “But I’m just . . . really eager to do this. It’s been bothering me for so long . . .”

Hange walked into the familiar home and took a seat on the leather couch. Placing their briefcase down beside them, they crossed one leg over the other in professionalism. Petra was their friend, but something this drastic called for nothing less than the utmost competency. “Talk to me. I know what you want to do, but Levi is my friend just as much as he’s yours. You’ll have to convince me.”

“Look. Levi has changed. You probably can’t tell because he doesn’t talk to you about our marriage or anything, but he’s not the same man I married.”

“Go on . . .”

Petra frowned deeply, looking at the carpet as she continued her plight. “He’s always so cold and distant with me. He _never_ compliments my looks, and I’ve tried everything. It doesn’t matter if I wear a lot of makeup or barely any, he just _does not_ acknowledge me. I dress nicely, take care of my figure, have hot meals ready for him when he comes home, and I keep the house immaculate. Yet everything always goes unnoticed and I’m sick of it!”

“Isn’t that just Levi’s personality?” Hange asked, and trying not to be rude, added, “Has he _ever_ really complimented your looks or anything like that?”

“Yes! When we first started dating Levi used to tell me I was pretty all the time! He made efforts to take me out to dinner or a movie, and we always did our homework together too!”

“Petra . . . that was back in high school. We’re in our thirties now. Has he complimented your looks or cooking _at all_ since you got married?” Hange asked. “It’s been ten years after all.”

“Um . . .” Petra murmured. “I’m not sure . . . but why would he marry me if he didn’t like me anymore? I don’t understand.”

“Well, maybe he felt pressured? You know your father always, for lack of better words, harassed him about marrying you. Maybe Levi just did it because he had no other choice?”

“He _did_ have another choice – he could have said no. And you know just as well as I do that Levi isn’t the type to allow other people to make his decisions.”

“So what?” Hange asked. “You want to set him up and see if he’ll cheat on you? Is that going to fix your marriage?”

Petra sighed. “No, it won’t _fix_ it. But I feel like if he can cheat on me or at least make _plans_ to cheat on me with someone else, then he really doesn’t love me.”

“What makes you think he’s a cheater? Levi may act grumpy all the time and he may not compliment you, but since he’s been with you, he’s never even _looked_ at another woman,” Hange insisted, sticking up for their friend. “I promise you!”

“I know. That’s why I want to set him up with another guy . . .”

“WHAT?!”

Now Petra was insistent. “Hear me out! What if he’s just not really into women? I mean, I can walk out in front of him wearing the sexiest lingerie ever and it elicits absolutely _no_ response from him! He treats sex with me like a chore and he always acts like he’s bored while doing it!”

“So that makes him gay??”

“Maybe not gay, but maybe he’s bi and prefers men?”

Hange shook their head. “Petra, I really don’t think you should do this.”

“Why not? I need to know if there’s any chance at reigniting the spark in our marriage and I feel like I can’t be assured of that until I know that he’s not unfaithful!”

“But –

“No . . . what if he’s cheating right now?” Petra asked lowly. “What if that’s the reason he’s been so cold and distant? What if that’s the reason he doesn’t look at me anymore?”

“When does he have time to cheat?” Hange asked. “Doesn’t he go to work every day at eight o’clock in the morning and return home at five o’clock in the evening?”

“Yeah . . .”

“Isn’t he always home on the weekends?”

“Yes . . .”

Hange smiled. “Then he’s not cheating. And I don’t think he would. He’s not that much of a scumbag, Petra.”

“You really don’t want to help me do this, do you?”

“It’s not that. I just feel bad about doing it because he’s my friend, I really don’t think he’s cheating on you, and I don’t think he would,” Hange sighed. “Setting him up like this is just evil . . . especially when I know he wouldn’t do anything to betray you.”

“Then explain his behavior!”

“I can’t! Have you talked to him about it?”

Petra shook her head sadly. “No. When he gets home from work he just eats and locks himself in the media room. Only God knows what he’s doing in there. He doesn’t want to talk to me Hange . . . he’s not interested in me anymore.”

“Petra . . .”

“Please Hange! If he’s as faithful as you think he is he won’t fall for it! This would just make me, as his wife, feel better. And come on . . . you know how men are!”

“Levi isn’t like other men though. I’m telling you, he wouldn’t even consider for a moment the idea of cheating on you,” Hange said, but knew that they weren’t going to win this battle. “Tell me this: what are you going to do when he passes the test? Or are you betting that he’ll fail so that you can divorce him and move on?”

“NO!” Petra yelled. “I love Levi with all of my heart and if he passes the test I will absolutely do everything in my power to get this to work! I’ll find out why he’s so moody either on my own or with marriage counseling! Plus, with the baby on way –

“What?!?”

Petra looked frightened at Hange’s reaction and waited for her friend to calm down before explaining. “Yes . . . I’m pregnant. And I’ve wanted to tell him for a couple of weeks now but he’s been so negative lately that I can’t find it within myself to do it. I’m really excited though, Hange. I’ve been trying for so long and it finally happened . . .”

“I . . . really think you should just drop this whole thing, tell him you’re pregnant, and suggest marriage counseling right away. I’m telling you, no _begging_ you, not to do this.” “

Why?? Don’t you think he’ll pass??”

“Yes!” Hange said, totally exasperated by now. “But the fact that you don’t trust him enough to want to do this to him lets me know that the foundations of your marriage are already breaking down.”

“Are you a marriage counselor or a cop?”

“I'm _concerned.”_

“Hange, if you don’t want to help me, that’s fine. I’ll just pay someone else to do it – I have the money after all. I just thought that since you were my friend you’d want to help me.”

“Ugh . . . fine.”

“Really??”

“Yes. We’ll do it here on Saturday when Levi is home I guess . . .”

“Okay!” Petra yelled excitedly. “How exactly will you do it?”

“It’s actually pretty easy. I’ll simply have someone wear an earpiece and a wire with a small microphone on it. I’ll communicate with them through the earpiece from a safe distance and listen to the conversation they’re having at the same time.”

“Wow.”

“So?” Hange asked, expecting an answer to their next question right away. After all, if Petra wanted to do this she better have a good idea of what she was getting into. “How far do you want them to go?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what do you consider cheating? You don’t want them to sleep with Levi, do you?”

“GOD no!!!”

“Well, how far do you want this to be taken? When does it become cheating?”

Petra grew pensive and slightly wary under Hange’s scrutinizing stare. “Um . . . I think it would become cheating if Levi gave out his number and asked to see the person again.”

“Got it.”

“So . . . do you have an accomplice to use?”

Hange nodded. “I’ll ask this new rookie at work. He’s pretty cute and eager to get out on the field. Young too.”

“O-oh, we’re really going with a guy, huh?”

“Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Petra swallowed nervously, beginning to reconsider this whole thing. “Y-yeah . . .”

“Are you willing to pay him? He probably won’t do it for free.”

“Sure. Do you think he’ll accept a thousand dollars?”

For a moment Hange was silent before bursting out into laughter. “Yeah, I think that’ll do the trick!”

“Okay good. Should I leave the house on Saturday?”

“It’s up to you. If someone knocks on the door and you’re here, is Levi going to bother answering it?”

“Probably not.”

“Then you should go out. Get some shopping done. And don’t worry,” Hange said confidently. “Just leave it up to me. I’ll inform the rookie and make sure he knows what he’s getting into before entrusting him with the task.”

“I see. And you’ll be able to talk to him while he’s speaking with Levi, correct?”

“Yup. I’ll coach him through it if he gets stuck. I can’t imagine that it’s easy to flirt with Levi.”

Petra sighed deeply. “You have no idea . . .”

* * *

Eren really hated being on coffee duty. Seriously, why did he even get hired if all he was going to be asked to do was deliver coffee to people?? He wanted to get out on the field, to wield a gun, to shoot the bad guys, and to make history! He hadn’t trained in the police academy for almost a year for nothing! Eren was already twenty-four years old and he was more than capable of being entrusted with more than just coffee duty. They hadn’t even allowed him to file any paperwork! Granted, he’d only worked here a couple of weeks, but he wasn’t some errand boy! All he really wanted was to prove that he could be useful!

“Here’s your coffee, Hange,” Eren said, handing the piping hot paper cup to the senior detective. He’d made and held so many cups of coffee now that the scolding hot cup no longer burned his hand. However, he always made sure to put a sleeve over the cup, because that’s just how considerate he was for all of the assholes he worked with.

“Thank you, Eren,” Hange replied. “Oh! And before you go, I’d like to ask you something.”

“Hmm?”

“Would you like to help me on a job? A client has enlisted me to perform a very special task and I think you’d be the perfect one to assist me.”

Hange knew they’d gotten Eren’s attention when the boy’s eyes lit up in excitement.

“Um, yeah?! What is it?! For who? And what does it involve?!”

“Well,” Hange mused. “You would be going undercover. You’d have to wear a wire and an earpiece and follow a few of my instructions as I guide you along. Think you could do that?”

 _Oh. My. God_ , Eren thought, trying not to spontaneously combust at how happy he was. Finally his first _REAL_ job!! And on the field too?! He expected to have to ascend through a few more ranks within the force such as cleaning duty and desk duty, but here he was being given the chance to engage in a job with one of the senior detectives! Was this really real??

“Yes!!” Eren squealed. “YES! This is so exciting, Hange! Thank you for this opportunity!”

"Eren, you'll be _perfect_ for this job,” Hange chuckled before growing serious. “But this isn’t something like a drug bust or anything like that. I wouldn’t allow you to do something so risky for your first time.”

“So, what’s it involve??”

“Well . . . I suppose I’ll just say it like it is: Eren, how would you feel about busting a cheater?”

“A cheater?” Eren asked. “Like, a cheater in terms of fraud and embezzlement?”

“Uh no. It’s more domestic than that.”

“Like . . . cheating in a relationship?”

“Bingo!” Hange said excitedly, trying to make Eren excited too. It wouldn’t do to have him back out now. Hange felt bad about tricking Eren by making him think he was doing something really important, but there probably wasn’t another way to convince him to do this. They knew Eren wanted to do something other than brew coffee all day, but would Eren stoop to a level like this?

“What would you want me to do . . . ?” Eren asked suspiciously.

“First of all, allow me to provide you with a small backstory. I’ve got two very good friends that are married and have been married for about ten years. The wife suspects that her husband may be cheating on her. We want you to flirt with him and see if it’s true.”

“ . . .”

“Sound good?” Hange asked hopefully.

“So, this guy isn’t a drug lord or some sort of murderer? He’s just a normal man?”

“O-of course! You have nothing to worry about!”

“No, I kind of _wanted_ him to be a criminal,” Eren muttered. “I would have felt like I was actually doing humanity a favor by removing some piece of shit off of the streets.”

“Well, if he's a cheater, you’re doing his _wife_ a favor!”

“I guess . . .” Eren said sadly and sighed. “What’s my objective in all of this?”

“All you have to do is get him to give you his number,” Hange said, and then made sure to add the most crucial part. “And _don’t_ sleep with him! It’s not necessary to go that far!”

“Don’t worry. I won’t.”

“So you’re okay with doing this?”

It only took Eren one glance at the cup of coffee in Hange’s hand before he made his decision.

“Absolutely.”

* * *

When Saturday rolled around Eren found himself in the passenger seat of Hange’s car as they drove to what he now knew was going to be the home of Levi and Petra. The other homes in the neighborhood were absolutely huge and Eren stared in awe as they rode through the gated community. Every house was completely unique: some had only one level, some had three, some had pools, some had fountains in the front, some homes reflected a Victorian style, and some embodied a Spanish style. Eren had never been so impressed in his life. He’d grown up in a cookie-cutter type of neighborhood without a backyard, so to see backyards big enough to support pools really blew his mind.

“Alright,” Hange announced, parking their car on an inconspicuous curb. “The house is up there.”

“You can’t drive me closer?” Eren asked, whining at how far the walk was going to be.

“Nope. I can’t allow Levi to see me.”

“Oh, right,” Eren mumbled dumbly. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay. Just knock on the door and proceed with how we planned. You can do this!”

Eren was unsure though, and he grew more unsure the closer he got to the mansion. The earpiece fit snugly into his ear and the wire tapped lightly against his bare skin as he made his way up the driveway. Hange had carefully coached him through he lines he was going to use but unfortunately, he had a really bad memory. Somehow, he was expected to pretend that he was a salesman selling knives, but the knives were in his car and if Levi was really interested in buying them, Eren would be more than happy to take down his number. However, he couldn’t let Levi think he was giving him his number _just_ for the knife-set. Apparently Eren had to be flirty enough to ensure that Levi thought that he was giving him his number in order to not only buy the knives, but to see him again for a sexual rendezvous.

While it sounded simple enough, Eren had never really flirted with anyone in his entire life. Not to brag or anything, but all he usually had to do was stand around and wait until guys came to him. And while Eren wasn’t really into one-night stands, this was the only way he’d ever picked up guys before. Flirting for him was rather difficult, especially when he was attracted to someone. Since this guy was rich and lived in a huge house though, he was probably in his late sixties, balding, fat, and ugly. Hange hadn’t told him much about Levi either; just that he was going to be tough to crack, which was why Eren needed to stick to the script and follow any instructions Hange gave him very carefully.

Eren really didn’t get it though. If he was going to have to try exceptionally hard to get Levi’s number, wasn’t that proof enough that he wasn’t a cheater? If anything, Eren almost felt like what they were doing was a little unfair . . .

But, cheating was cheating, right? If Levi was truly a faithful man, no matter how hard he tried to get his number, Levi should just reject him. Eren hoped that would be the case when he nervously rang the doorbell.

“Alright Eren,” Hange whispered to him in his ear. “Just like we planned.”

Eren took a deep breath and waited patiently. Finally after what felt like forever, he could hear the sound of a deadbolt being unlocked and the door swung open.

“Can I help you?”

 _Okay. But why is he hot??_ Eren thought, instantly panicking over what he was about to do. There was no way he could do this convincingly. He was totally going to forget his words! Why hadn’t Hange told him that Levi was attractive?! Or better yet, why didn’t _he_ tell Hange that he had a bad habit of stuttering and forgetting how to speak English in front of hot guys?!

“Eren,” Hange said, startling Eren and panicking him even further. “Sell the knives . . .”

“H-hi,” Eren spoke, a little too loudly. He was totally frazzled and probably disturbing the neighbors. “U-um, I’m selling knives. W-would you like to buy some?”

That wasn’t right. Eren was _supposed_ to tell Levi what company he was with and what type of knives he was selling and how much they cost, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember any of the details! Lines! He needed someone to tell him his lines!

“I don’t see any knives.”

“U-um . . .”

Again, Hange spoke to him. “Tell him they’re in your car, Eren.”

“I-I think they’re in my car . . .?”

Levi frowned, narrowing his eyes and instantly growing suspicious. “Who the hell are you?”

“Me?”

“Yes, _you.”_

“Eren, s-sir.”

“I didn’t ask you for your name. I asked you who you were.”

“The company you’re working for is Yukon Knives, Eren,” Hange said, now losing faith in Eren’s abilities. They hadn’t thought Eren would get _this_ flustered . . . well, he was a rookie for a reason after all.

“I work for a company called, uh, Yukon Knives . . .”

“Never heard of it.”

“W-we just started . . .” Eren added. “So . . . um, are you interested?”

Levi rolled his eyes so hard they almost disappeared into the back of his head. “Do I look like I need knives? Look at my house. Look at my fountain. Look at my lawn. Look at my car. You think I want to buy your shitty knives? I’ve got state of the art silverware in my kitchen, and that includes knives sharp enough to be used in surgery.”

“O-oh . . . F-forgive me . . .”

“Oh Eren,” Hange mumbled, dropping their head in anguish. “Just turn around and leave. This is hopeless.”

“Um . . .” Eren began, trying to find the words to apologize so that he could indeed leave. What a fail this had been. “Sorry for disturbing you . . . Thank you for your time.”

“Hmm . . . maybe you can sell me something else?”

Eren froze and Hange’s gasp confirmed that he’d heard Levi correctly. Slowly, he allowed his eyes to peer up at Levi’s handsome and expressionless face, wondering how those words could have come from such a stony appearance.

“Speak Eren!” Hange ordered. “Say something!”

“U-uh um, I-I u-uh, y-you, um . . .” Eren stuttered, frantically trying to make his mouth form a coherent sentence.

Levi waited patiently, enjoying Eren’s flustered and rattled demeanor. Finally when he realized that Eren was simply too nervous to speak, he continued. “You over eighteen?”

“Y-yes!” Eren said. “I’m twenty-four actually.”

Levi looked Eren over again. “You don’t look a day over twenty.”

“I-I promise I am, sir . . .”

“Just get his number,” Hange ordered. “Or at least try to. I think he might be willing to give it to you by now.”

Eren took a deep, shaky breath. He literally could _not_ get over his nervousness. “S-so! U-uh –

“Do you want to come in?” Levi asked.

Again Eren froze, awaiting further instruction from Hange.

“Just go in,” they ordered, and Eren nodded sheepishly before following Levi into the house.

Of course, it was just as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside. Clearly these people were wealthy, but how they were able to afford such luxurious items was beyond Eren. Levi didn’t look _that_ old and couldn’t possibly be out of thirties yet. So how the hell did he manage to afford such amazing furniture and décor? Perhaps he’d inherited all of his wealth from his parents?

Eren sat down on the edge of the couch, nervousness overflowing from him. He was pretty sure Levi could tell he was anxious too as he took a seat next to him - a seat that was  _inappropriately_ close.

 _Shit, he smells so good_ , Eren thought, allowing the scent of cologne that was probably worth three of his paychecks enter his nose.

However, no matter how delicious Levi smelled and looked, Eren needed to remember that he was here to expose this guy as a cheater by getting his number. That was it.

“You’re pretty cute,” Levi observed, leaning closer to Eren to get a better look at him. Although it wasn’t as if he needed it – Levi just wanted an excuse to get even closer to the boy and to make him more nervous. It worked in his favor.

“N-no!” Eren denied, leaning further away from Levi. He could not, under any circumstances, allow this _god_ to get closer to him. “I-I’m really not!”

“Eren!” Hange yelled at him. “If he’s closing in on you move away from him! NOW!”

“I-I’m sorry!” Eren cried, trying to back away from Levi as quickly as he could, only to be roughly jerked back into Levi’s lap.

 _“Eren_ . . .” Levi breathed lowly, blowing cool air onto the back of Eren’s tan neck. He was already running his hands up the back of Eren’s shirt and then over to the front to feel his surprisingly toned stomach and abs. The loose clothing Eren was wearing sure didn’t do his body justice.

“You’ve got such a cute body. If you wanna sell stuff, you’ve gotta show it off a little . . .”

Eren shivered at the compliment, falling back into Levi’s chest and allowing the man to have his way with him. Feeling those puffs of Levi’s hot breath against the side of his face and watching Levi’s hands roam around his chest under his shirt made Eren way more aroused than it should. He shouldn’t be doing this either . . . he was supposed to just ask for Levi’s number!

“Uh oh,” Levi suddenly said, and Eren could feel the wire being tugged off of him. “What do we have here?”

“Eren!” Hange yelled again, now desperate for Eren to make his move and get out of there. “Can you hear me?! You need to leave immediately! Forget about the number!”

“Um . . .” Eren murmured, still dazed from the treatment. “I-I-

Levi examined the wire carefully before asking Eren, “You wouldn’t possibly be working for someone, right?”

“Tell him Eren,” Hange ordered seriously. _“Now.”_

Again, Eren couldn’t find his words. “Um . . . I-I’m sorry sir. It’s not what you think . . . I swear!”

Hange growled to themselves, now contemplating turning on the car and driving up to the house to stop the chaos. Clearly it was evident what was going on, but a small part of Hange wanted to give Levi a chance to redeem himself. They still had so much faith in him and couldn’t believe he’d betray his wife like this. Plus, Levi sounded awfully angry and suspicious over the wire and the prospects of being listened to. He’d probably just give up and tell Eren to go home.

“Then what is it??” Hange heard Levi ask. “Why are you wearing a wire?! And is that an earpiece?!”

“Levi . . .” Eren mumbled weakly. “I –

“And how the _fuck_ do you know my name?!”

“I-I’m sorry Levi . . .”

 _Thank God_ , Hange thought. _Levi is furious. He’ll just storm off in a minute._

“Yeah? If you’re really sorry then come and sit on my cock.”

“OH SHIT!” Hange yelled, immediately cranking up the car. “Eren, don’t you dare!!”

But Eren was already scrambling to get on top of Levi, kissing him as hard as he could as Levi practically ripped off his pants. Levi’s hand was stroking his aching hard on in an instant, gathering as much precum as he could because he’d be damned if he momentarily stopped to go and get lube. Eren was just too adorable on top of him, moaning and squirming and ripping at his hair like some kind of whore. It excited him way more than it should have, and while he didn’t want to hurt Eren, he sure hoped the kid didn’t expect him to take his time. That would have been impossible.

“Ah! Levi!” Eren moaned, jerking slightly when he felt Levi push two fingers inside of him. It stung, but he was so fucking aroused he couldn’t even be bothered by the pain. Head back and eyes squeezed shut, Eren thrust downward against Levi’s hand as hard as he could, crying out weakly when he could feel those fingers brush against his prostate.

“Fuck!” Eren whined, panting heavily and feeling tears start to gather in the corner of his eyes.

Knowing what he’d stumbled upon, Levi smiled darkly and massaged his fingers against that spot mercilessly. Eren was screaming bloody murder on top of him at the stimulation, but Levi wouldn’t stop until that brat came untouched. Eren’s grip on his shoulders was bruising, fingernails digging into his skin. He was desperately trying to pull away, probably not wanting his orgasm to hit him so soon and so violently, though Levi held him still, feeling Eren’s lithe body stiffen in his arms.

“Cumming so soon?” Levi asked evilly, watching his fingers sink into that tight passage.

“ _P-please_!”

Eren’s little cries were like music to Levi’s ears and without much of a warning, Eren came, shooting white ropes of cum in between his and Levi’s chest. His thighs spasmed lightly as he came down from his high, trying to breathe and gather his bearings before Levi impaled him with something much _bigger_ than his fingers. A knock sounded on the door and Eren gasped, knowing it was Hange on the other side.

He’d fucked up.

He’d fucked up _so badly_.

“Th-the door,” Eren said weakly, trying to communicate the severity of the situation to Levi with the tone of his voice.

“I don’t hear anything,” Levi said, and slid himself with little resistance into Eren’s tight channel. Since Eren was screaming in pleasure Levi really _couldn’t_ hear anything. It was just him, the erotic sound of skin against skin, and Eren’s slutty moans in his ear. After having recovered from his orgasm, Eren began moving in sync with Levi, driven forward by that toe curling feeling of Levi hitting his prostate dead on once again. He was highly embarrassed right now, chanting Levi’s name as the older man fucked the absolute dogshit out of him on the couch. Those strong hands on his hips and the look of pure concentration on Levi’s face made Eren’s limbs go numb. His body was on fire, his back was arched painfully like a drawn bow, and Eren was beginning to feel that band within his stomach threatening to snap again.

Levi pulled Eren’s head down and pressed their mouths together, mixing around the copious amounts of saliva they’d both managed to drool up. Levi absolutely dominated Eren’s mouth, shoving his tongue so far down Eren’s throat he was surprised it didn’t choke him. Eren only whined in response, pitch growing higher and higher as grew closer to his climax. Levi slammed into Eren harder, feeling himself lose control of that brutal pace he’d set. He usually lasted longer than this, but Eren was just _too_ tight and hot and exciting. Hips jerking and eyes rolling into the back of his head, Levi managed to erratically thrust into Eren a few more times before pulling Eren’s ass flush against his hips and cumming deep inside of him. Eren shivered and came again, slumping against Levi and wondering when the room was going to stop spinning. Both of their hearts were thumping wildly against one another’s as if involved in a match of which heart could beat the hardest and the fastest.

The all too familiar sound of someone knocking on his door infiltrated Levi’s ears. Instead of answering it though he just sat there, inhaling Eren’s amazing post-sex aroma. It was all fun and games until Eren pulled back and stared into his eyes, and for a moment Levi found himself lost in those hazy, blue-green orbs. But then he remembered that those eyes weren’t his wife’s and he almost shit himself.

 _“Fuck!”_ Levi hissed, suddenly very focused on the door. “What have I done??”

“That’s right!” Eren yelled back, shaking Levi’s shoulders. “You just cheated on your wife! You’re a cheater! _Cheater!!!”_

“Who the _fuck_ are you?! And tell me the truth this time!” Levi demanded.

“My name is Eren and I’m a cop! Your wife set you up to see if you would cheat on her! Hange helped to orchestrate the whole thing by having me wear a wire and listening to our conversation!”

“What?! You little fucker! How _dare_ you!”

Eren’s mouth dropped open in shock. “How dare I?! _You_ flirted with _me!_ I’m innocent!”

“Innocent my ass! You could have stopped at any time! Or were you supposed to sleep with me?!”

“LEVI!” Hange screamed, banging on the door. “OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!”

Levi shoved Eren off of himself and quickly pulled his pants back on, expecting Eren to do the same even though he fell straight to the floor, unable to stand. He rushed to the front door and pulled it open to reveal an angry and belligerent Hange.

“What have you done?!” Hange yelled. “Levi, I trusted you! _Petra_ trusted you!”

“I didn’t do anything!” Levi lied, but he knew Hange wasn’t going to fall for it. They were a detective after all.

“Liar! Are you kidding me?! You’re only making it worse by denying it!”

“Well, why are you yelling at me?! It takes two to tango!”

“Oh, I’ll get to him,” Hange growled in a threatening tone, stomping through the house to find Eren suspiciously trying to cover up the physical evidence that was left behind. “Eren, how could you?! Your mission was to get Levi’s number! That was it!”

“But –

“I specifically told you not to sleep with Levi and you went and did just that! I should fire you for insubordination!”

“Seriously?!” Eren screamed. “Weren’t you listening?! He told me to sit on his cock!”

“And you just did it?!” Hange screamed back. “Had I known you wouldn’t have been able to use proper English around Levi I would have asked someone else! But I wanted to give you a chance, Eren! And now you’ve lost all of the trust and respect I had for you!”

“It was a mistake!” Eren pleaded. “I’m really sorry, Hange! I didn’t mean it!”

“Even with me _telling_ you what to do, you _still_ couldn’t follow orders! You’re fired!”

“Wait!” Levi yelled, taking over for Eren when the boy started crying. “Hange, don’t fire him! It really was a mistake!”

“A mistake?!” Hange asked. “That’s not a mistake! You don’t _accidentally_ have sex with someone! Eren’s getting fired and you’re probably getting a divorce and that’s that!”

“You’re seriously going to tell her?! I’m telling you I didn’t mean it! It’s not like I love Eren! I love my wife!”

“No you don’t! If you loved her you’d call her by her name instead of ‘my wife’!”

“Fine! I love Patty or whatever!”

“DID YOU LITERALLY FORGET HER NAME?! I’LL KILL YOU!!!”

“Guys, stop!” Eren again pleaded, watching Levi and Hange fall to the floor as they fought. “Cut it out!”

Amidst all the fighting and trying to wipe his tears away, Eren was the only one to hear the sound of a car door slamming outside. He could also hear the sound of heels clicking against the ground and keys jangling together as they were raised to open the door. But the door was unlocked and open . . . and soon whoever was coming in would know why.

“Guys!” Eren begged, knowing exactly who it was. “Petra is home!”

Levi and Hange froze before scrambling to collect themselves, and Petra stormed into the living room with shopping bags clasped tightly in her hands.

“What is going on?!” she demanded. “I heard the commotion from outside!”

“Nothing!” Hange said, running over to take the bags from Petra. “Please sit down. All this chaos isn’t good for the baby.”

Levi’s eyes widened almost comically, but Hange simply shot him a dirty look to ensure that he didn’t say anything. After Petra was seated comfortably on a  _clean_ couch, Hange began to explain, but with deep regrets.

“I’m sorry Petra. But the sting operation was unsuccessful.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was wrong about Levi . . . he’s the cheater you thought he was!”

Petra gasped, feeling tears instantly rush into her eyes. “N-no . . . Levi, _please_ tell me they’re lying!” But once her eyes caught sight of Eren the tears fell, streaming down her cheeks so dramatically it looked like a scene out of a movie. “Was _he_ the decoy . . .?”

Eren nodded shamefully, standing up and trying to ignore the searing pain in his lower back. “Y-yes . . . I’m _so_ sorry.”

“You’re sorry . . .?” Petra asked somberly, wiping her eyes and mascara all over the white sleeve of her shirt. “Are you kidding me? You were just supposed to get Levi’s number! Hange, didn’t you explain it??”

Hange nodded sadly. “I thought I did, but Eren disobeyed me.”

“Yeah, he did,” Levi agreed, ignoring the angry look Eren shot him. “But it was my fault too.”

“I knew it . . .” Petra whispered darkly, placing her hands on her stomach and praying she didn’t vomit right there. “I _knew_ you were cheating.”

“No, I haven’t been cheating,” Levi explained. “I never cheated on you. Not until today . . . and I’m sorry.”

“God . . . _why?!”_

Levi didn’t have an answer so he shrugged guiltily. “I don’t know.”

“Yes you do! What’s wrong with me!? Am I not good enough?! Why would you marry me if you didn’t really love me?!” Petra screamed. “Y-you traitor! I _hate_ you!!”

Levi sighed. “Look –

“Just get out of my sight!! I can’t even look at you right now! I feel like I’m going to throw up!!!”

Hange sighed and sat down beside Petra to comfort her. With a pointed glare, they stared at Eren who flinched nervously under their gaze. “Eren, you’re not fired, but you _are_ suspended for two weeks.”

“I understand,” Eren said sadly, although he was grateful for Hange's display of mercy towards him.

“And Levi,” Hange continued. “Get him out of here.”

Feeling like a prisoner being escorted back to his cell, Eren followed Levi towards the front door, feeling his chest ache from Petra’s wails of anguish. Never before had he ruined someone’s life _this_ badly, and he’d probably think about this for as long as he lived. He didn’t know what to say to Levi as they arrived at the entrance, but he knew he needed to make it quick.

“Levi –

Suddenly Levi pulled him to his chest and kissed him harshly, swallowing up whatever sentence Eren had planned on saying to him. Like the homewrecker he’d come to accept himself as, Eren returned the wild kiss, threading his fingers into Levi’s sweaty black locks. Levi’s hands were on Eren’s ass in an instant, roughly groping those beautiful tan globes he hadn’t had nearly enough time to experience. He would much rather be groping Eren without the annoying barriers of clothing in between, but he’d have to make do with this for now.

Eventually they both broke the kiss, pulling back to suck in deep breaths of well-deserved air.

“Give me your phone,” Levi whispered passionately against Eren’s swollen lips.

Eren obediently got his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Levi who quickly put his number in as if he feared he was going to forget it.

“Mission accomplished.”

“What?” Eren asked breathlessly.

“You got my number,” Levi explained. “Well done.”

Eren felt a pang of fury rush through him at Levi’s smug and unconcerned face, but instead of walking away like he should, he aggressively pulled Levi in for another breathtakingly desperate kiss. What a dog this thirty-something year old man was for cheating on his pregnant wife . . . thank God Eren had gotten his number though!


	2. Chapter 2

Petra picked up a basket of folded laundry, held tilted to the right as she squeezed her cellphone in between her cheek and shoulder. “Yes, I think it’s working, Hange!”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it,” the detective replied happily. “I suppose this was the best-case scenario . . . especially considering the baby.”

“Absolutely. The marriage counselor we saw doesn’t believe divorce is an appropriate answer _unless_ the relationship is physically abusive. After our session the other day, she pulled me aside and told me that even though I may not realize it, Levi is making extraordinary progress.”

“Oh?”

“But I _do_ realize it, Hange!” Petra expressed fondly. “He’s been great lately. We’ve gone out on more dates, he comes home with gifts, and he doesn’t ignore me anymore! Levi is _actually_ making an effort. He _wants_ this – he _wants_ our family!”

On the other end of the phone, Hange smiled. “I’m so happy for both of you! And not to be intrusive or anything, but . . . when can I come see little Madeline?!”

“Whenever you want!”

“Eee! Can I come over today after work??”

“Sure!”

“GAH I’m so excited! She’s so cute!”

Setting the basket of laundry down in her room, Petra made the short journey to Madeline’s room and stopped just before reaching her crib, intent on _not_ disturbing her sleep. “She really _is_ cute . . . oh Hange, I fall more in love with her every day.”

“I’ll bet! How’s Levi?”

“With the baby? Excellent.”

“No way.”

“Yes!” Petra insisted, laughing at Hange’s serious tone. “He’s very good with her. Usually when he comes home from work, he completely takes over for me. Sometimes I don’t understand how he’s not exhausted from the stress of working eight hours and then coming home and taking care of a newborn, but Levi never complains.”

“Aww, it’s a miracle!”

“It really is . . . sometimes I think that without Madeline, this would have never worked.”

“Oh don’t say that, Petra. Give Levi some credit. Besides, if he’s as good as you say he is, he’s probably realized what a great catch he has. Trust me, he’ll spend the rest of his life working his butt off to regain your trust!”

“Hehe, think so?”

“I know so!”

“That actually reminds me – whoops!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I have another call coming in,” Petra said curiously. “Can I put you on hold? It might be Levi.”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

Petra did just that and answered the other caller, heading back to her room and sitting down the pristine, white loveseat that sat directly underneath a large window. Gazing out at the view of their garden, now overtaken with blue, blooming hydrangeas, she smiled contently. “Hello?”

“Hi, Mrs. Ackerman? It’s Dr. Smith.”

“Oh! Hi! Is anything wrong?”

“I just wanted to follow up on your appointment with us. You came in Monday morning correct?”

“Correct,” she agreed casually. “But that was six days ago, and it was just for a check-up. Is something wrong?”

Somehow, Petra was able to feel the mood shift even over the phone, and she no longer found looking at the garden soothing. Instead, she turned around and stared intensely at the wall across from her, even though she wasn’t sure why she was being so dramatic. What news could they possibly tell her that warranted such a reaction on her part anyways? Her doctor always followed up with her, so this was nothing unusual. Although, it _was_ unusual to follow up six days later . . .

“Well, I just wanted to discuss the results of your urine sample, because I’m assuming that you . . . were not aware of this . . .”

“Aware of what?”

“Your urine tested positive for chlamydia.”

Petra froze for a _long_ time, probably forty-five seconds, before erupting in nervous laughter. “N-no, there has to be some sort of mistake.”

“Your urine initially tested positive for other types of bacteria, and then we sent it to our lab for further testing and that’s where we identified the bacteria associated with chlamydia.”

Although her doctor sounded unempathetic in his attempt to be professional, Petra was feeling personally attacked. “I’m _telling_ you that it’s a mistake! I-I don’t even have any symptoms! It can’t be true! Why are you telling me this?!”

“Mrs. Ackerman, many men and women can have chlamydia and exhibit absolutely no symptoms. In fact, it can take several weeks after you contract chlamydia to realize you even have it. Thus, I am not surprised you don’t have any symptoms. However, chlamydia is treated very easily with antibiotics and can go away completely in as little as seven days.”

“. . . No . . .”

“. . . Have you been intimate with anyone besides your husband, Mrs. Ackerman?”

“NO!!!!” Petra screamed at the top of her lungs. “NO OF COURSE NOT!!!”

“F-forgive me . . . forgive me for saying this as well, but is it possible that your husband contracted it from . . . someone else?”

“Don’t patronize me,” Petra murmured darkly. “If _I_ didn’t get from someone else, _he_ obviously did and passed it to me . . .”

“. . . Mrs. –

“We were seeing a marriage counselor,” Petra sobbed, having broken down and collapsed onto the floor. “Whyyyy?!?!? We were doing so well!!!! He’s been so _good_ lately!!!! Wahhhhh!!!!!”

“Please calm down,” the doctor urged with kindness and understanding. “We will fill a prescription for azithromycin immediately. Also, it might be in your husband’s best interest to see his doctor as well . . .”

“Ohhhh Goddddd whyyyyy . . .”

“. . . I’m very sorry, Mrs. Ackerman . . .”

Still sobbing dramatically, Petra said nothing else until her doctor awkwardly hung up the phone and Hange was placed back on the line. They were calling out to her asking her what was wrong, but Petra said nothing, unable to speak due to the aching feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was pathetic and irresponsible to be strewn out on the floor crying while her vulnerable newborn slept in another room, however moving was too difficult right now. She couldn’t even get a proper breath of air let alone stand up.

“Whyyyy?!” she cried, hot tears soaking into the carpet. “How is this possible?? Why is this happening to me . . .”

“PETRA!” Hange screamed. “What’s wrong?! Do I need to send the police over?!”

“I’ll never be able to have another child!!!!”

“What?? Why?!”

“Ohhhh Godddd!!!!”

Stunned into silence by the theatrics, Hange decided to go against their best judgment to hang up and call Levi. He was probably busy at work and might be unable to take their call, but this was serious. If he didn’t answer, Hange was going to have no choice other than to send an ambulance to Petra’s home because her behavior was literally scaring them.

“Hello?”

“Thank _God_ you answered!!!”

“I’m about to have an important meeting,” Levi said, having stopped outside of the large room where inside sat all of his faithful employees. “Can this wait?”

“No! Something is wrong with Petra!”

“What’s wrong with her?”

Hange sighed loudly. “I don’t _know_ what’s wrong with her – that’s why I called you!”

“Do I need to do something?”

“Can you call her and check on her?! She’s sobbing so hysterically that she can’t even speak to me!”

 _This_ caught Levi’s attention, so much so that he ducked into the meeting room to inform everyone that he needed fifteen minutes to speak with his wife before discussing anything business-related. He walked back to his office and got comfortable, sighing when he happened to glance down at his watch and check the time. Because of this, he might have to stay late . . .

“Alright. I’m hanging up,” Levi announced.

“Okay. Please hurry,” Hange urged him. “I’m very concerned.”

Levi rolled his eyes, hung up, and dialed Petra’s number, a small part of him hoping she didn’t answer.

“H-hello . . .?”

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

Petra felt a chill run down her spine at the pet name, and the rage she hadn’t experienced since _that_ day suddenly enveloped her once again.

“What’s wrong?” she asked quietly, still curled up into a ball on the floor. “What’s _wrong_?? What’s wrong is you’re a _psycho_ who has our marriage counselor convinced you’re making progress when you haven’t made _any_ progress in the past YEAR!!!”

“What are you talking about?”

“I have CHLAMYDIA, Levi!!! I have an STD and YOU GAVE IT TO ME!!!”

“. . .”

“ANSWER ME!!”

All she received was silence, so Petra had no choice but to continue talking.

“Who did you get it from you _fucking_ pig!? Or have you slept around with so many people you have no idea _who_ could have given it to you?!”

“Tch. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you _do_! You know _exactly_ what I’m talking about! The marriage counselor told us that if we’re not one hundred percent honest with each other this will never work! You’ve been lying this _entire_ time, so the best thing you can do right now is be honest! I seriously can’t believe this shit, Levi! You’re _still_ cheating on me after everything we’ve been through!? Is it with that same boy who works with Hange?! Because if it is, you can bet your ass I’m going to tell them! At this rate we’ll have to consider moving since you can’t – hello?! HELLO??”

He’d hung up on her, causing all of the emotions and pain to reappear and flood her senses full throttle. She couldn’t believe it. _Everything_ had been a lie . . . somehow Levi managed to convince licensed professionals that he **really** wanted to try and make their relationship work, all the while he was continuing to cheat on her behind her back.

Unfortunately, Petra was absolutely stumped on how he was able to pull off the double life. Levi didn’t come home on time _every_ night, but on these occasions she called his work (if he didn’t pick up his phone) and they always assured her that he was there in a meeting. Was he sleeping with someone _at_ work?! Because if so, that was disgusting. He had absolutely _no_ excuse to seek affection from someone other than her and if she was honest, for as long as she’d known Levi, he’d _never_ had a strong libido. When they had sex, he seemed to enjoy it, especially compared to his attitude from a year ago, so what was his problem?! Why was he still cheating on her?! And with who!!?

He couldn’t _possibly_ be seeing the young cop from the first incident! Surely Hange would have noticed suspicious behavior from him and reported it to her! They talked all the time about any and everything, so if he had been taking time off of work early, Hange probably would have told her something along the lines of “remember that _slut_ who almost ruined your relationship a year ago? He sometimes leaves around a strange time and uses a weird excuse to do it. Wonder what that’s about . . .” Petra probably wouldn’t have caught on immediately, but she _knew_ what days Levi had to stay late after work. If only she knew what that stupid little cop was doing around that time . . .

Regardless, Levi’s behavior was unacceptable, and when ( _if_ ) he came home tonight, she was going to grill him. She didn’t know what she was going to say either, because it was clear to her that she could do _nothing_ to get him to tell the truth. In the beginning of marriage counseling she explicitly _asked_ Levi to tell her what she could do differently. Petra tried to avoid the ‘I’m not good enough for you’ implication because she knew the counselor would have a problem with it, but even so, Levi _assured_ her that she was perfect! Then he attempted to villainize himself by insisting that _he_ was the bad guy and that everything was his fault and he should have had better self-control and blah, blah, blah.

Lies.

It was all _lies._

By now Petra was almost asleep on the bedroom floor, having cried herself into exhaustion, when all of a sudden she could hear the door open and close from downstairs. Thinking it had to have been Hange, she remained still, not wanting to be found. There was no way she could have a rational conversation with Hange considering what she was currently going through. She couldn’t have a rational conversation with _anyone_ , so whoever was walking up the stairs needed to just turn around and go back to wherever they came from because she was _done_.

“Petra.”

The sound of her name leaving _his_ lips made her want to vomit. Eyes wide and expressionless, she watched Levi _dare_ to approach her, dropping to one knee at her side.

“Get up. We need to talk.”

“I can’t believe it . . .” she mumbled, trying not to laugh cruelly at her husband’s ‘effort’. “You have the audacity to come home and try to console me after what you’ve done? _Seriously_?”

Levi sighed, picking her up and forcing her to sit up against the bed. Having her remain upright was a challenge since she was so distraught that she seemed to have lost control over her limbs, but Levi did his best. He intended to face and speak to her one-on-one, knowing Petra wished for nothing more than candidness.

“Who did you get it from, Levi?” Petra asked weakly, staring into those steely grey eyes, searching for the slightest amount of empathy.

“Petra, I _didn’t_ give you chlamydia.”

“LIAR!”

“I didn’t! I haven’t cheated on you since the time you and Hange caught me! I don’t even have it!”

“You _have_ to have it!” she screamed. “The doctor said it can lie dormant in the body for _weeks,_ meaning you wouldn’t even know that you had it! Just because you don’t have symptoms doesn’t mean you don’t have it!”

Levi was obviously getting frustrated at this point, but she could care less. How could _he_ be frustrated with  _her_?! _He_ was the one that cheated!

“If that’s the case, then I got it from Eren the first time I slept with him,” Levi mumbled. “Guess that means I’ve had it for around a year.”

“What?! A _year_?! That doesn’t even make any sense!”

“Petra, there’s no other explanation! I’m sorry, okay?! At least Madeline is healthy and doesn’t have it!”

“I still don’t fucking believe you, Levi?! Do you think I’m stupid?!” Petra asked, and now she _was_ laughing. Laughing at Levi’s sorry attempts to keep lying to her. “I didn’t have an STD the last few times I went to the doctor, and if I did, they would have told me! They _just_ detected it now, which means I contracted it sometime after my last doctor’s visit, and that was three months ago! You’ve had sex with someone else within the last three months, you piece of shit! Just tell me who it is!”

“Are you serious?!” Levi yelled. “I’ve been going to this stupid marriage counseling for you for a fucking year and you _still_ don’t trust me?! Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for you! How many times do you want me to tell you that I’m sorry?!”

“Saying you’re sorry doesn’t mean anything when you keep lying to me!!”

“I’m not lying!! I don’t know how you got chlamydia, but I don’t have it! I saw the doctor a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t heard anything from them!”

“. . . You’re lying! You have to be lying!”

“I’m being completely honest with you, Petra! Besides, when do I have time to cheat?! I’m fucking exhausted! If I’m not at work, I’m here taking care of the baby so that _you_ can rest! Don’t you get that I love you?! I left work to come home and make sure you were okay because Hange called me in a panic saying you were crying hysterically! I’m trying, okay?! What more do you want from me?!”

Petra was confused. She was scared, angry, betrayed, but she mostly felt confused. Maybe Levi was . . . telling the truth? Perhaps he really _was_ concerned about her. She knew leaving work early was something he **_never_** did because it put him behind, so if he was worried enough to leave just for _her_ , that probably meant something. Petra never thought she’d **_ever_** be more important than her husband’s work . . .

“You . . . promise you’re telling me the truth?” she asked hesitantly, this time searching his eyes for honesty.

“I _promise_ ,” Levi insisted. “I don’t want to hurt you anymore, and I want to make this work. I married you for a reason, you know.”

She allowed herself to remain suspicious for a few more seconds before wiping her tears away and nodding. Okay, she would trust him for now. Not because he came home from work early, since that in and of itself meant nothing, but because he seemed to be sincere. Levi almost seemed a bit frazzled, as if bothered by the fact that she could believe he was still cheating on her. He was desperate to prove her wrong so that she didn’t have the wrong idea about him, and that meant a lot to her. If he were _really_ cheating on her, he would probably just try to turn this whole thing around on her before storming out of the house and disappearing for the night.

Levi didn’t disappear though. He stayed home with her, cared for Madeline, and went to sleep in the bed beside her. Not with anyone else, but with _her_. Petra couldn’t describe the relief she felt from watching Levi’s chest rise and fall as he slept peacefully at her side, not a care in the world. He was relaxed, snoring softly; sleeping like nothing other than a truly innocent man. That’s right – he _wasn’t_ cheating. He couldn’t have been. Cheating weighed heavily on one’s mind and soul: sleeping this peacefully is utterly impossible to do while actively having sex with someone other than one’s life partner. Levi _had_ married her for a reason, and that reason was because he loved her.

Thus, Petra felt completely justified, calm, and unbothered as she picked up Levi’s phone and unlocked it. By now she truly trusted that he wasn’t cheating on her, so she was only checking as a precaution: it was extra reassurance for her. Perhaps the fact that Levi didn’t have a passcode on his phone was enough evidence, but Petra just wanted to make sure. She’d handled his phone before, never looking through his text messages since she believed it was an invasion of privacy, so she felt entitled to look just this once.

 

Never in her life had Petra regretted something so much.

 

Right away she noticed a sender at the top of the list with a <3 in place of where a name should be, and it wasn’t her. Heart racing, she clicked on the name and slapped her free hand over her mouth to keep herself from gasping. It was _him_ – the cop, and she felt like she was scrolling forever as she tried to get to the beginning of the messages. God, there were _so_ many . . . they were absolutely endless! Some of the messages consisted of innocent chatting, including topics surrounding the weather, interesting things they saw on TV, food they ate for dinner, and other types of conversation that didn’t bother her at all. But most, about seventy percent, of the messages were just foul. Every time she came across a particularly disgusting text, she glanced over at Levi, tears streaming out of her swollen, red eyes, wondering how this could be the same person.

 **< 3: ** _so I bought something u might think is cute …_

 **Levi:** _Yeah? Send me pics._

 **< 3: ** _seriously? Its embarrassing . . . you wont laugh right?_

 **Levi:** _laugh? No. jerk off to it? probably._

The next response from <3 was a near naked photo and Petra simply dropped the phone in her lap and cried silently to herself. No wonder Levi never looked at her in lingerie. What his little _plaything_ was wearing in the photo went far beyond anything she ever considered wearing. It was white, lacy, and barely covered anything. The lace of the white thong was so intricate she’d never seen anything like it, and the see-through aspect left little to the imagination. Connected to the underwear and hugging his thighs were studded, matching garters with a heart accent in the middle. Metal clasps extended downward to connect to the white stockings, and those too were see-through, so it truly looked like he was wearing nothing. The worst part about the outfit in her opinion were the cat ears on top of his head, because not only did Levi tell her that he _hated_ cats, but she’d _never_ considered something so adventurous in the bedroom. It hurt her feelings to know Levi enjoyed things like this, but his responses enraged her far beyond the point of feeling hurt.

 **Levi:** _Im in LOVE. Youre so beautiful. Absolutely perfect._

 **< 3: ** _thanks! Took me forever to figure out the garters lol_

 **Levi:** _itd be a shame to take them off so soon then. Why do you send me some more pics?_

 **< 3: ** _Ok…_

Petra was unable to skip over the pictures, desperately comparing herself to the brunette boy in the photos and wondering what was so great about him. From training to be a police officer, he obviously had a nice body, but she too worked out and kept in shape. No, she didn’t have a flat, toned stomach like him, and she probably could do some more squats to get stronger looking thighs and a bigger butt . . . maybe she could go get a tan too, or dye her hair brown . . .

It shouldn’t _be_ like this though! Levi said _she_ was perfect! Was that a lie as well?!

 **Levi:** _dammmmnnnnn I could spend all day in between those thighs_

 **< 3: ** _please stop, youre embarrassing me!_

 **Levi:** _your body is incredible. Seriously gonna need that ass on my face asap_

 **< 3:** _omg sir, remember im a cop!_

 **Levi:** _so?_

 **< 3: ** _if u say anything too vulgar I might have to arrest you ;)_

 **Levi:** _please arrest me and violate me at your discretion_

 **< 3: ** _hmm that sounds pretty fun. Have any ideas?_

 **Levi:** _is it okay if they all involve me fucking that tight, little ass of yours until youre screaming and begging me to stop?_

 **< 3: ** _only if you promise not to stop_

 **Levi:** _trust me, I wont_

 **< 3: ** _ommmmmgggggg when can u come over?! Im dyingggg_

 **Levi:** _tonight. I’ll have a ‘meeting’ at work. when I walk through that door u better be face down ass up for me_

 **< 3: ** _plz hurry. I wasnt called into work today and I cant stop thinking about u. im home all alone..._

 **Levi:** _fuck it, im leaving now. I'll b there in 10 minutes_

So much for Levi being dedicated to his work! This was just one conversation of many Petra found involving explicit material between them. When she thought she couldn’t be _more_ shocked, she also discovered that Levi voluntarily sent nudes _back_ after receiving them. Though it was hard to read with blurry eyes, she pressed onwards, learning things she never thought she’d ever know about her husband.

For the most part, she was repulsed by his shamelessness and vulgarity. Some of the messages were _so_ graphic she almost didn’t think they could be real. Her husband’s kinks included everything from pretending to rape Eren, (because he was a cop and Levi apparently enjoyed the idea of forcing himself on someone in power) to making Eren urinate on himself, to having sex with him public, which she was pretty sure was _illegal_  and this just proved that Eren was both a homewrecker  _and_ a terrible police officer _,_  to having sex with him in _their_ bed when she wasn’t home!

 **Levi:** _Petra left to visit her parents. Youre getting fucked right where she sleeps_

 **< 3: ** _thats so sick but I love it. Make me cum on her pillow, k daddy?_

Petra felt like dying. No, she’d already died – in spirit that is. Her sick, twisted, nasty, and perverted husband was just lying next to her sleeping soundly, while she was literally having a mental breakdown over the things he was texting to the person he liked enough to name with a heart in his phone. If this was how they spoke over text, she couldn’t imagine what they said to each other in person.

Levi was fucking disgusting, and just being in the same room with him was making her sick. She wanted to get as far away from him as possible right now, but she knew in the morning she’d regret leaving him. Even though he was a liar, even though he was a cheater, even though he got aroused from making someone to urinate on themselves, she still loved him and wanted to make it work. Despite everything she just couldn’t let him go! Yes, Levi had an alter ego, one that she _never_ saw, but the Levi she _did_ see was kind to her. He complimented her, showed an interest in his child, and seemed like he was making an effort . . . an effort for _what_ she didn’t really know, but Levi’s kindness outweighed the bad . . . right?

Deciding to try a different approach, Petra grabbed her own cell phone and typed Eren’s number in, planning on sending him a desperate, pleading message to just stop. A part of her had faith that if she begged and buttered him up enough, he really _would_ stop. At least, she hoped he would.

 **Petra:** _Hi Eren. This is Petra. You probably don’t remember me, but I’m Levi’s wife. I just gave birth to our newborn and her name is Madeline. Mine and Levi’s eleven-year anniversary is approaching soon, and sometimes I can’t believe I’ve been married to him for that long. You might have already known this but we’re seeing a marriage counselor and . . . I think it’s working. Levi’s attitude towards me has really changed and I’m so thankful for it. I feel like we can actually rear a proper family together, so I’m really excited! But Eren, we can’t do this with you in the picture._

_Please, I BEG of you, stop contacting Levi. I’ve read the texts and while I’m disgusted, I’m calm enough to talk to you through this medium like a rational human being. Eren, you’re YOUNG. You can find someone else who’s going to be faithful to just you. Instead of knowing you’re tearing a family apart, you can go to bed at night with your significant other, because currently, you live with the knowledge that the man you have sex with is always with his wife and child where he belongs at night. Don’t you want someone you can call your own?_

_I KNOW you do, because you’ve been seeing other people. I got chlamydia from Levi and I’m assuming he got it from you. If you haven’t already been tested, please go do so. Unfortunately, I’ve probably been walking around with this STD for weeks, and chlamydia negatively affects a woman’s fertility. Did you know this, Eren? Because of you, I might not be able to have anymore children . . ._

_If you have any empathy, guilt, or remorse for what you’re doing to me in your heart, please stop this. Only YOU can. I just want to live a peaceful life with my husband and daughter – it’s all I’ve ever wanted in life. I hope you can help me achieve this dream . . ._

* * *

Eren hadn’t responded to Levi in two months. First of all, he went and got tested, finding out that he did indeed have chlamydia. He immediately received medication for it and cleared it up, but it didn’t stop him from feeling immense guilt over what he’d done: Petra was right. He got it, he passed it to Levi, and then Levi passed it to her. Eren _knew_ where he got it from too – a strange, unexpected one-night stand with a woman that ended really awkwardly, something he _swore_ never to get involved in again. It was actually very rare of him to entertain one-night stands, but Eren had actually been _trying_ , despite what Petra may think, to date other people. Levi didn’t really have a problem with it either, simply telling him to be safe and use condoms – oops. Unfortunately for Petra, Eren didn’t plan on trying to hook up with guys _or_ girls anymore, and Levi’s encouraging attitude towards him only made Eren fall _more_ in love with him.

Now, Eren didn’t exactly know how Levi would react once he found out he gave him chlamydia, because Eren had ignored every single text and call from him since he received Petra’s message. He was positively smitten with her husband, however her words had definitely touched him, enough to back off and return to his mundane, single life as a police officer who never saw any action. In fact, the most action he got was in the bedroom, and the thought lead Eren to think back to the many evenings he spent with Levi exploring intimacy in ways that made him grow red in the face. While he wouldn’t have any more evenings quite like that, at least he had the memories . . .

Ignoring Levi had been much harder than he thought as well. Every time he missed a call or refused to open a text from him, it made his heart clench. His mind _screamed_ at him for ignoring the hot guy who made him see stars every time he fucked him and made him blush like a virgin on every occasion, although his heart stepped in at the last minute and reminded him of who Levi was. He was a husband, a father, a son-in-law, and a man with great integrity . . . he was also a cheating scumbag that had no respect for his wife, but all Eren had to do was step aside and that last part would go away.

So, that’s what he did, and he hoped Petra was happy because he certainly wasn’t.

God, he missed him.

Eren missed his smell, his hands, his face, his hair, his body, his cock, his _everything_. Thankfully saying goodbye to Hange and leaving work had become a lot easier for him because he didn’t experience any guilt about sleeping with the husband of their friend, although coming home to an apartment he _knew_ he’d be alone in all night hurt even worse.

He fully expected to enter his apartment alone today as well, but after stepping off the elevator and seeing Levi standing at his door waiting for him, arms crossed and looking serious (seriously _hot_ ) he felt his heart skip several beats.

“Um . . . what are you doing here?” Eren asked shyly, opening his apartment door and silently praying he wouldn’t go in alone.

“Tch. What do you _think_ I’m doing here?” Levi asked, answering his prayers. “First of all, where’d your dirty ass get chlamydia from?”

Eren looked away guiltily. “Oh . . . I was attempting to live the hetero life and I got it from the girl I hooked up with.”

“Didn’t use a condom?”

“Forgot . . . I was really drunk.”

Levi sighed deeply. “Can’t expect much from a brat, I guess.”

“I’m _so_ sorry I gave it to you. And Petra getting it is _all_ my fault, and –

“Wait, how the hell did you know Petra got it?”

“She texted me,” Eren said, and showed Levi the text. “See? She sincerely asked me to stop seeing you, so I decided to . . . listen to her advice.”

“How’s that working out for you?”

“How’s it working out for _you_?”

Levi raised a brow. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

“You could just be here for an explanation.”

“I’m here for an explanation _and_ to fuck you. I can get both and I intend to.”

“Y-you’re horrible,” Eren stuttered nervously, although he clung to Levi like a koala when the man picked him up and walked him into his bedroom. “Didn’t you read that text Petra sent me? She sounded so heartbroken.”

“I read it. And I don’t care.”

Eren moaned when Levi smashed his mouth against his, eyes rolling into the back of his head and mouth parting to allow Levi’s tongue in. Threading his fingers into Levi’s hair, he pulled him closer, wincing as their teeth clashed painfully together. Levi was already making quick work of Eren's clothing, stripping it off and flinging it haphazardly to the floor. Feeling shy because he hadn’t seen Levi in almost two months, Eren brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He tried to avoid Levi’s eyes, but that smoldering gaze forced him to submit and throw all of that training he went through at the police academy out of the window.

“Don’t hide your beautiful body from me,” Levi purred, and Eren swooned at the words, legs falling open to allow Levi in between them. “You’re clean now, right?”

Eren nodded eagerly. “Yes. I promise you’re the last person I had sex with, so there’s no way I could have it again. Did you get clean too?”

“Obviously. If _you_ just used a condom though, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Me?? What about you?”

“They don’t make ‘em big enough for me.”

Eren laughed at the obnoxious comment. “Oh my God, I missed your sense of humor so much.”

“Think that’s funny?” Levi asked, studying Eren’s cherubic little face as he smiled. “Because I don’t.”

Levi took his time familiarizing himself with Eren’s body after being forced to abstain from it for two months. He wasn’t sure how Eren’s figure could grow tighter, leaner, and more toned every time he saw him, but after two months the changes were highly visible. Those protruding collar bones and slim neck were almost _too_ perfect for leaving love-bites on, and even though Eren begged him to be careful so that no one at work would see, Levi never listened.

Bending down, he placed a light kiss on the side of Eren’s smooth neck before biting down aggressively, feeling those toned, slim thighs crush his waist in response. After he was done with Eren’s upper body, Levi would _definitely_ allow those thighs to crush his head next. For now, he focused on licking, tasting, and relearning the fascinating sounds he could coax out of Eren with just a few well-placed nips and kisses.

Eren fully relaxed under Levi’s weight, wondering how he was able to deny himself of this kind of pleasure for as long as he did. Levi’s hands were hot on his body, stroking and groping him in ways that made him come completely undone. He took his time with him too, savoring him as if he were a decadent dessert, the treatment making Eren wonder momentarily if he treated Petra the same way. Levi was always quite secretive with his relationship with Petra, probably for obvious reasons, but Eren always wondered if he handled her the way he did him. If he did, Petra was a pretty lucky woman, because Levi always left him dreaming of the next time they spent together, his nether regions throbbing from the vigorous utilization.

Indeed, Eren was _eager_ to be used once more, and he excitedly wound all ten of his fingers through Levi’s hair when he could feel the man’s breath on his painfully hard erection. He always felt a little self-conscious when Levi wanted to blow him after he’s been working all day and hadn't showered, but Levi insisted he _preferred_ it that way. Deep down in Eren’s mind, he knew Levi had to be referring to his smell and taste, and the thought excited Eren way more than it should. In fact, the more depraved Levi got with him, the harder Eren orgasmed and the louder he screamed.

Levi knew this of course, impatiently taking Eren’s hardened, leaking member in his mouth and groaning from the taste. Those delicious legs came to an immediate close around his head and Eren’s back arched in response to the touch. Like the angel he was, Eren squirmed around on the bed as he sucked him off, calling his name and pulling on his hair. Levi ran his hands along the smooth underside of Eren’s thighs, digging his fingers into the soft flesh and lightly attempting to pull them apart to give him himself some room. Eren understood that he was _not_ to allow it though, as Levi had expressed to him many times that he enjoyed it when Eren fought back against him. Because in the end, Levi always won, exerting his dominance over Eren’s smaller, weaker form, taking great pride in subjugating a defender of justice.

Eren could briefly feel Levi pull away and he curiously looked down to see what he was doing, squealing he when spat a mixture of cum and spit directly onto his hole, never once breaking eye contact with him in the process.

“Oh _God_ ,” Eren keened, flinching when Levi shoved a finger into him and took him back into his mouth. As usual, Levi was perfectly rough with him, mercilessly rubbing at his insides in a way that made Eren’s toes curl and his eyelids flutter shut. He begged for it harder, and Levi complied by forcing two more fingers into him and holding his hips down on the bed as he fingered him practically to death. Eren was screaming, head thrashing as his body attempted to seek ways to release the pleasure that was growing within him. He knew Levi was staring up at him too, and just knowing he was being watched aroused him all the more. Fingers tangled in the sheets, Eren thrashed a few more times before stilling, violently cumming down Levi’s throat, chest rising and falling as he tried to calm his racing heart. His thighs were quivering fiercely from having experienced such a powerful orgasm after Eren had practically neglected himself for two months. However, at this point, masturbating was a complete waste of time, because the experience wasn’t complete without Levi. It was going to a movie theater, watching previews of the movie, and then getting up and leaving. What was the point?

“Let’s see . . . how do I want you . . .?” Levi mused to himself, gazing hungrily at Eren’s fucked out expression. His eyes, half-lidded and relaxed, stared up at him with just as much enthusiasm. Though he was exhausted and his limbs felt like jelly, Eren was eager to please Levi in return. He would do _anything_ for him, and Levi knew that. “Get on your knees.”

Eren complied immediately. He could feel the back of his neck heating up in embarrassment from Levi being able to see _all_ of his most intimate parts at once, and he could hear the older man chuckling from behind him. Eren bit his lip self-consciously, feeling the heat spread to his face and then down his chest.

“Oh no,” Levi growled when he could feel Eren attempt to shift and hide himself. “That’s not allowed. _Ever_.”

Eren whined in response.

“You hid from me for two months. I want to see it _all_.”

“Levi-”

“Hold your fucking ass cheeks apart and don’t let go. _Now_.”

Eren complied to that request as well, reaching back and spreading himself for Levi as commanded. If he wasn’t embarrassed before, he was _really_ feeling it now, but he loved it at the same time. Thank God his face was in his pillow, because even though he got off on the humiliation, when Levi couldn’t see the lewd expressions on his face he felt like he could truly let go.

Levi very kindly ripped Eren’s head up by the back of his hair though; as _if_ his brat thought he could get away with hiding from him.

“When I told you that I wanted to see it all, I meant that I wanted to see it _all_ , brat,” he growled in Eren’s ear, feeling Eren’s body grow rigid underneath him. His treatment would be cruel if Eren didn’t enjoy it, but Eren was very clearly hard and leaking precum yet again, _desperate_ for relief once more.

With that being said, Levi leaned back to admire the view, mouth watering at the sight of Eren’s pink, glistening orifice that he’d soon be slamming into with wild abandon. Silently, he raised a finger and pressed against it, feeling it immediately clench up as Eren jolted curiously in response. If he weren’t so hard himself he’d spend a good half an hour down there eating Eren out until he was sobbing and begging him to stop, but he couldn’t wait any longer.

“I told you not to let go,” Levi snapped, watching Eren’s right hand attempt to falter.

“My hands are sweaty . . .” Eren explained, weakly, swallowing even though his mouth had gone dry. “I can’t do this much longer . . . p-please hurry, Levi. _Please_ . . .”

“You can and you will. I’ll stare at your slutty hole for as long as I want, and I’ll fuck it when I’m good and ready.”

Eren moaned - high-pitched and needy - at Levi’s demeaning tone. His whole body was beginning to ache from holding the unnatural position, but he didn’t dare say anymore for fear of making Levi take longer. When his left hand began to slip as well, Eren obediently readjusted it before Levi could comment on it, and this apparently pleased Levi enough to have mercy on him.

Levi slid in slowly, watching Eren struggle to stretch and accommodate his size after two months of not having to take him. He groaned obscenely from both the heat and compression around him, sliding further and further in until he was buried to the hilt, panting from just how amazing Eren felt around him. Being in Petra was nothing like _this_. It usually took fifteen minutes to achieve an orgasm with her, but if he wasn’t careful, Eren could have him blowing his load in fifteen seconds.

“Shit,” he cursed, using his free hand to get a solid grip on Eren’s left hip. “You feel so fucking good . . .”

“ _You_ feel so fucking good,” Eren returned, eyes shutting in pleasure when the tip of Levi’s cock just _barely_ brushed against his prostate. “I need this, Levi. _Please_.”

Levi needed it too though, and probably a lot more than Eren did. He fucked him exceptionally hard, starting off with the pace he usually liked to work his way up to. Levi had used up all his patience in the beginning, so now he was skipping straight to the main event. Tightening his grip in Eren’s hair, he used both hands to grant himself that extra bit of balance, making sure he drove into Eren’s prostate with every thrust of his hips. As a result, Eren quickly gave up on meeting him halfway, instead choosing to focus on the feeling of Levi’s hot, thick, veiny cock wreaking havoc on his insides.

Sometimes the older man alternated his pace, pulling back to refresh his view of the place he and Eren were connected, slowing down to watch himself sink in and out of the brunette. _Nothing_ was more arousing than watching Eren’s stretched-to-its-limits entrance accommodate him, _squelching_ and _schloping_ as their fluids lubricated the way.

Sweating profusely, Levi groaned, biting his lip as he picked up the pace again, listening to Eren moan loudly beneath him. Already the brat was clenching around him, gasping loudly as a particularly hard thrust made his toes curl.

“I’m gonna cum . . .” Eren whimpered, arching his back more and more as his orgasm fast approached. Levi slammed harder and faster into him after hearing that, and Eren screamed in pleasure from the brutality of it all. His scalp was throbbing; his hands now so slick he was having to strain to continue to hold his cheeks apart like Levi wanted. He wanted to be good and follow orders, but it was so hard when the urge to collapse on the bed and just scream as Levi ravaged him threatened to take over with each passing second. Eren begged and pleaded with Levi to fuck him harder twice more, seeing stars and cumming viciously when Levi complied _too_ well with his request.

Jaw slack and spit running out of his once dry mouth, Eren jerked when Levi stilled, grunting as he spilled his seed right against his prostate, the feeling making Eren sigh in great relief. Yeah, he _definitely_ needed this. Nothing could compare to the feeling of Levi cumming in him, and having his hot seed warming him from the inside made Eren feel like he could die happily.

“You can let go,” Levi said, watching as Eren’s arms fell limply onto the mattress. Because he could still stay a few more hours without looking suspicious, Levi decided to lay down beside Eren and cuddle with him, a truly rare activity for both of them. And even though it was rare, Eren cuddled up to him as if he did it every night, possessively pulling Levi’s arm over his body and interlocking their fingers.

“I know you can’t stay the night, but this is nice,” Eren breathed softly, his eyelids heavy and desperate to close.

“I could try to work something out every and then,” Levi offered. “About a month from now I’ll be taking a three-day business trip over the weekend. Maybe you can take Friday off and come with me?”

“Seriously?”

“As long as you bring _this_ and something cute to wear for me.”

Eren giggled when Levi grabbed his ass and he sighed blissfully as Levi started to kiss his neck affectionately. “Of _course,_ I will. I’ll wait patiently in the hotel room for you to come back and when you do, I’ll service you all night long.”

Levi liked, no _loved_ , the sound of that. Just imagining it made him kick himself for not attempting something like that earlier. Three days away in a hotel room with wine and Eren dressed up in sexy outfits the whole time sounded like a dream come true.

“I’m addicted to you,” Levi revealed, running his hand up Eren’s thigh, along his hip, then over curve of his waist before finally settling it over Eren’s chest. Eren smiled and placed his hand atop Levi’s, alternating between moaning and giggling as Levi continued to suck on his neck.

“Mmm good. Make sure to play with me often so I don’t get lonely, okay?”

“That won’t be a problem if you take my phone calls and text me back, brat.”

“I get it, I get it! I won’t ignore you ever again and I promise I’ll make it up to you . . . I’m sure you have a few ideas in mind, and I _might_ be willing to listen.”

Eren was just joking of course. _Might_ be willing to listen? He was Levi’s whore through and through – nothing Levi could suggest would _ever_ be off limits.

“I’ll run my ideas by you on our way to the hotel room and you can let me know if you approve or not,” Levi chuckled.

“You’ve already decided I’m coming? What if I can’t get off work?”

“Tch, I’ll burn that stupid police station down to the ground if I have to.”

Eren gasped with mock concern. “Do I need to place you under arrest for threatening arson?”

“Depends on where you’ll be taking me.”

Eren sat up and rolled on top of Levi, straddling his waist with renewed energy. “You’ll be going to a _special_ type of prison where I’m the only guard and you’re the only prisoner. A few prisoners before you couldn’t handle me and had to be transferred out. I can be quite sadistic, you know . . .”

“Oh yeah?” Levi asked, hands already assuming positions on both of Eren’s hips. “What are your punishments like?”

Eren reached over to his nightstand and pulled out the spare pair of handcuffs he and Levi had already broken in months ago.

“You’ll just have to get arrested and find out.”


	3. Chapter 3

She’d been _extremely_ happy for the last few weeks. Actually, there probably wasn’t a word in existence that could describe the way she was feeling. Her husband could have been buttering her up for something, (although Petra didn’t like to think that way) however even if he was, she couldn’t bring herself to care. Spending the entire day with her best friend only to end it at a fancy restaurant where the cheapest meal was $60 was like a dream come true.

Nothing could ruin this day, this _moment:_ not even the next words out of Levi’s mouth.

“I’m going on a business trip this weekend. I’ll leave Friday morning and come back Sunday night.”

“You are?” Petra asked. “For what?”

“Business stuff.”

It wasn’t unusual for Levi not to elaborate on his work, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be curious about it and where all of his money came from. Due to the romantic atmosphere though, she didn’t press him for any more information regarding his job.

“I see. Where will you be staying?”

“A hotel. Been looking into the _Obsidian Suites.”_

Her mouth dropped open. “Levi, those suits costs thousands of dollars a night. Why are you staying somewhere so expensive?”

“I didn’t say I was staying there. I just said I was looking into them.”

“Well, am I invited? Surely you don’t plan to go to one of those fancy suites all by yourself, right?”

Levi froze only for a moment, hoping time stood still as he thought about how to answer this. _Obviously_ he didn’t plan on going alone because he was going with Eren. But Petra? She wasn’t invited . . . or at least, she wasn’t _supposed_ to be invited. If she went she’d ruin everything. Levi couldn’t tell her no though, right? Wasn’t that too suspicious? And if he couldn’t tell her no outright, how the hell was he supposed to convince her not to come?

Damn, why did he mention he was going to the _Obsidian Suites_ anyways? His head had been in the clouds all day, occupied by a certain brunette police officer, and because of that he’d just royally fucked up.

“Who’s going to take care of Madeline?” Levi asked, knowing that the save was dumb and could be answered a million different ways. A million different ways that could still involve Petra coming with him.

“We’ll bring her! She can miss one day of preschool to stay at a nice hotel with her parents, don’t you think?”

“Education is important . . .”

“Levi,” Petra chuckled, playfully rolling her eyes at his suggestion. “That’s true, but think about how much fun she’d have?”

Shit.

He wasn’t getting out of this one, was he?

At this point it would probably be risky to continue pushing since he was already on the brink of looking _super_ suspicious, but he would try one last time before completely giving up.

“I’ll be busy all day in meetings. We won’t have a lot of time together anyways.”

“That’s okay. Madeline and I can read together, watch TV, and explore the hotel – there’s a lot to do there.”

“. . . **Fine.”**

Because she was so happy, Petra was unable to detect the disappointment and irritation in her husband’s tone from having to bring her along on his business trip. Instead of questioning his behavior, she simply smiled and moved the conversation onto another topic, leaving Levi to stew in agitation. In addition to being agitated, Levi was wondering how he was going to break the news to Eren. This was _supposed_ to be a fun, relaxing, sexy, adventurous time for both of them, including a scenic tour of the beach, followed by a seafood banquet, and then ending with steamy jacuzzi sex. Would all these things happen in order? Maybe, maybe not, but now Levi was concerned that they wouldn’t happen at all.

The truth was that this wasn’t really a vacation. He _did_ have to devote much of his time, probably about sixty percent of it, to business-related matters. Now he was somehow going to have to juggle Petra, his daughter, and Eren with the remaining forty percent. No, keeping all three of them happy wasn’t an impossible feat, although he couldn’t help but feel bummed out over knowing he couldn’t go at least forty-eight hours without seeing his wife’s face. He saw Petra every day, but only saw Eren a few, sometimes a couple of times a week. Plus, he never got to see Eren for more than a few hours at a time, so Levi was really looking forward to spending these three days with him: he knew Eren was looking forward to it as well.

Since it was already Wednesday, Levi would have to call Eren and inform him sooner than later of the change of plans. There were a million ways the brunette could react too, and he hoped and prayed Eren didn’t choose to back out. Then the whole trip would _really_ be ruined.

Technically, it was already sort of ruined . . .

“I’ve got to make a call,” Levi announced, and removed himself from the table before Petra could argue. She wouldn’t though, smiling and humming in absolute bliss over ruining his plans. While she didn’t know he was bringing Eren with him, it still pissed Levi off to see her so happy about intruding on his life. That may have been selfish, but dammit, she saw him _all_ the time. Didn’t she want a break from him like he wanted from her?! Marriage didn’t somehow absolve them of all of their differences and make them want to be around each other as much as physically possible. Sometimes he didn’t even want to be with Eren and preferred to just play a soothing game of golf alone!

But regarding this weekend, he _did_ want to be with Eren. And now it was all fucking ruined.

Because he couldn’t stand talking on the phone in a crowd of people, Levi exited the restaurant completely before making the call. He also wanted to smoke a cigarette which Petra didn’t like for him to do – but what was new? She _always_ bossed him around, attempting to tell him what to do, so if he ever wanted any relief he had to distance himself from her.

“Hey!” Eren answered happily. “You literally caught me right as I was walking into my apartment. What’s up?”

“Bad news. Petra is coming,” Levi said tersely.

“Uh . . . I don’t even know what to say. That sucks, but maybe next time? Can’t really be mad at her for wanting to go with you, I guess.”

“Tch, I didn’t say she was coming _instead_ of you. She’s coming _and_ you’re coming.”

“R-really?” Eren asked, sounding way too surprised for Levi’s liking. Something about Eren’s tone made Levi want to reassure him. Luckily for him, Eren didn’t need any reassurance. He just perfectly went along with whatever he said, and Levi adored him for it. That brat lived to please him.

“Yes, really,” Levi said. “I told you we’d spend a weekend together in a nice hotel and that’s what we’re going to do.”

“. . . But you’ll have to work. And if you try to spend time with me too often, Petra will get suspicious . . . Just make sure you come to me when it’s convenient for you, alright?”

“Don’t worry about how I spend my time or what excuses I use with my wife. Know that I’ll come see you whenever I damn well want to.”

“Oh . . . okay . . .” Eren breathed, glad that Levi couldn’t see the growing discomfort between his legs. While he had no idea how Levi was going to pull this off, Eren didn’t mind sitting back and allowing him to control the situation.

“Arrive after Petra and I,” Levi continued. “I check into both rooms and I’ll give you your room key. And you’ll have access to my card while you’re there, so you can order whatever room service you want.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I want to make sure you’re comfortable while you’re on vacation.”

Eren giggled. “Aw, thanks. I’ll make sure to enjoy myself while you’re working hard.”

“Good boy.”

“You know I am and always will be a good boy who follows the law.”

“Just the laws that can send you to jail,” Levi corrected him. “As far as moral laws go, you’re pretty damn corrupt.”

“You’re one to talk!” Eren laughed. “Okay, I’m hanging up now. I’m going to enjoy my Chinese takeout while watching a movie and I may or may not be naked while I do it. I’ll just leave that up to your imagination.”

“Thanks for the torture, brat.”

They hung up after that, and Levi finished his cigarette before going back in, although he wished he had time to finish his entire pack. Sitting back down at the table, he allowed Petra to continue to ramble about how excited she was for the trip until he was able to pay the bill so that they could leave. It got even worse in the car, because due the confined space Petra was able to smell the cigarette smoke on him, which led to her incessant whining about _that._

 _So annoying . . ._ Levi thought, staring at the road with disinterested, unblinking eyes as he drove home. _Why is this my life . . .?_

“I’m so glad Hange is always willing to babysit for us!” Petra stated. “Madeline just adores them.”

“Yeah.”

“We honestly have such a great circle of friends.”

“Mmhmm.”

“But, you should really let me meet the people you work with! It’d be so fun to have get-togethers with them, don’t you think?”

“Maybe.”

“Whenever I call, the most pleasant woman always answers the phone and I wish I knew who she was! We’d probably make such good friends! Maybe even one day we could . . .”

Levi stopped listening at this point. This was the dark side of Petra only his closest work colleagues knew about. Erwin refused to believe it for the first few years, adamant about the fact that no one could be _this_ annoying. Recently Erwin tried to blame her irritating personality on the fact that he cheated on her, but Levi insisted that she was annoying for years before that happened. To his best recollection, she wasn’t always this way. After all, had she been this annoying he wouldn’t have married her. Initially Levi married her due to external pressures placed upon him by his mother (who adored Petra) as well as Petra’s parents, and after heavy soul searching, he decided that he liked her enough to tolerate her and married her. She was a great wife in terms of cooking and cleaning, performing both to his standards. Also, because she came from a wealthy background and her mother never worked, Petra decided to follow the same route, though she was certainly not uneducated. And yes, she was pretty as well.

With all of that being said, she still didn’t do it for him. Unfortunately for her, meeting Eren let Levi know that he definitely had a type, and Petra wasn’t it. He didn’t just suddenly find her unattractive, but his interest in her waned after sleeping with Eren, and there was nothing he could do about it. Too infatuated with Eren to cut him off, Levi was simply trapped in his current dynamic – not that he’d do anything differently. He would still cheat on Petra and see Eren on the side, and no, he wouldn’t feel guilty about it. As far as he was concerned, he’d done what needed to be done, which was give his mother a grandchild after being pestered about it ever since he got married.

And make no mistake, if Levi could take Madeline and run he’d do so, but that was impossible. He and Petra had been married for eleven years, they’d seen a marriage counselor, and as far as Petra was concerned, their marriage was fine. Perhaps it had something to do with not wanting to disturb the peace, because Levi felt like he could do nothing other than what he was doing. Nothing was going to change, although he really didn’t want it to – Levi felt comfortable with the way he was going about things. Every morning he got up and went to work without guilt, and every night he went to sleep without guilt. His wife was annoying, and when he wanted to escape her, he had Eren waiting for him. Eren never complained about anything either, making Levi even more reluctant to let him go.

Eren was the _perfect_ outlet; charming and charismatic, sensual yet shy. He was every man’s dream.

Which was why Levi smiled evilly to himself the whole way home, thinking about the millions of ways he could dominate Eren and play with him at his leisure. He wondered what outfits Eren would bring, and while none of them stayed on for long, it was nice to enjoy Eren in sexy lingerie for at least a few minutes.

Levi hoped he wasn’t hyping himself up for nothing though. There was a huge possibility that Petra could hog him during all of his free time, and if she kept him from seeing Eren on this trip, he _might_ have to push her down the stairs . . . yeah, that’s right. If she was in the hospital recovering he could do whatever he wanted! Oh, but he wasn’t that evil or impulsive though. Psh, yeah he was evil alright, but not _that_ evil. Besides, isn’t perception also reality? Petra thought he was a great husband, so he must be. There was no need for him to do anything differently according to her. And _because_ he was such a good husband, he may as well accept reality as she does.

Unfortunately, Hange wasn’t so convinced, grilling him about why he was smiling like a psychopath as soon as he walked through the door.

“I had a good day,” Levi huffed after having immediately resumed his usual scowl. “Got a problem with that?”

“Well, you usually don’t smile like _that,”_ Hange chuckled, although they grew more serious when Levi avoided their gaze. Being a detective, Hange was trained in recognizing facial expressions and body language, so they knew duping delight when they saw it . . . and Levi’s smile was _entirely_ too suspicious.

“We’re going on a little vacation this weekend!” Petra announced happily. “To the _Obsidian Suites!”_

“Really?”

“Mmhmm! We leave Friday!”

 _Oh_ , Hange thought, now totally sure what Levi was up to.

How convenient that Levi planned a business trip the same Friday Eren requested off . . . although, Petra was going wasn’t she? With her around, surely Levi wouldn’t be dumb enough to attempt cheating on her . . . besides, Eren had promised them that he’d stopped seeing Levi! That’s right . . . they were probably worried over nothing. As far as they knew, Petra had been very happy lately, and as of right now she was positively beaming.

“DADDY!!!!” Madeline screamed, rushing into the room and jumping into Levi’s arms. “I missed you!!”

“I was only gone for a few hours,” Levi chuckled, holding her tightly and running his fingers through her black hair. “What have you been up to while I’ve been gone?”

“Come look! Hange and I were playing Barbies!”

Petra smiled fondly as Madeline dragged her husband away before turning to Hange and thanking them for taking time out of their day to babysit.

“Hey, it’s no problem,” Hange said. “I love Madeline.”

“I know, but I’m sure you have other things that you could occupy your time with. Things that have to do with work.”

“Not really . . . I’ve been pushing a lot of the paperwork off onto Eren . . . he’s still being punished for the first incident . . .”

“That happened over a year ago though . . .” Petra murmured, instantly shying away from the conversation all together.

She hadn’t informed Hange of her recent spat with Levi, but since she knew for a fact that Eren had cut off their relationship, she decided there wasn't anything to discuss. They were fine now and that’s all that mattered . . . though she truly didn’t mind Hange giving Eren boring paperwork to do. In fact, she actually appreciated the fact that Hange kept Eren busy at work. If he was busy at work, that would mean he didn’t have any time to see her husband . . . not that he would. Eren had responded to her text weeks ago informing her that he wouldn’t see Levi anymore, and she decided to believe him. It _had_ to be true. She checked Levi’s phone frequently now and there was never a single message from Eren on there. Levi deleted his number and blocked him as per her request, and he hadn’t acted suspiciously since then . . . of course, he never acted suspicious in general, but this time she had his word.

He wouldn’t lie to her . . . he wouldn’t!

“Well, he deserves to atone for what he did for the rest of his life if I’m being perfectly honest with you,” Hange said, also mimicking Petra’s shy demeanor. “And look . . . I shouldn’t tell you this because I probably have no idea what I’m talking about, but Eren requested Friday off.”

“Hange –

“And I _know_ you and Levi haven’t been having any problems and marriage counseling has been going well, but . . . I couldn’t _not_ tell you. Ugh, I didn’t mean to ruin your vacation, Petra! I just –

“No!” Petra yelled. “It’s _fine,_ Hange! I appreciate you telling me this! I mean . . . the chances of Eren intruding on our lives anymore are very low, so while I don’t think he’ll be a problem, I’m glad that you brought this to my attention. I promise you didn’t ruin my vacation either.”

“No, I _did,_ because now you’re going to be acting like a detective while you’re there instead of relaxing and enjoying time with your husband . . .”

“I won’t be a detective, Hange!” Petra promised (though she'd make a pretty good one in her opinion). “I promise I’ll enjoy my time there! We’ll have tons of fun, trust me! Besides, Levi is going to be working for the most part. Even _if_ he and Eren planned some sort of sexual liaison, which they didn’t, but _even if they did_ , Levi would be too busy with work. Things will be fine!”

“Well . . .” Hange said hesitantly, though they quickly relaxed once Petra’s gentle smile reassured them. “Okay. I’m just glad I didn’t mess anything up. I’d hate to put such depressing thoughts into your mind when you’re supposed to be enjoying yourself.”

“I _will_ enjoy myself, you worrywart!” Petra laughed. “Now shoo! I have to do some serious packing!”

“That’s right! The _Obsidian Suites_ is notorious for its pools and jacuzzi’s. And the beach right outside? It’s like being in Hawaii!”

“Have you been, Hange?”

“Once. But that’s another story for another day,” Hange chuckled.

“Ooh, does it have something to do with a sting operation??”

“Yes actually. There’s a seedy area a couple of miles away. But you don’t have to worry about that. The hotel is completely safe.”

“I’m glad. I wouldn’t want to put Madeline in danger.”

“Oh? You’re taking Madeline?”

“Why not? Since Levi works so much we haven’t ever really taken a vacation as a family. Sure, she probably won’t remember much, but it’ll still be fun for her in the moment.”

“Be sure to take plenty of pictures!”

Petra nodded and shrugged. “You know Hange, you _could_ have a kid of your own.”

“Nah, not with the kind of job I have,” Hange said. “I’m always on-call, I work weird hours – it wouldn’t be fair.”

“Well, I’ll make sure to let you babysit Madeline as much as you want!”

“Bless you, Petra. And make sure you have fun for me!”

“I will!"

After their conversation, Petra saw Hange out and quickly headed upstairs to find out what Levi and Madeline were up to. She briefly stopped outside of Madeline’s nearly shut door and could hear Levi inside reading her a book that they’d both read her a thousand times, but Madeline treated it as a new experience every time they read it to her. It was adorable and endearing, so instead of disturbing them she decided to go ahead and pick out the outfits she wanted to bring with her on vacation. A swimsuit was a _must,_ as well as nice clothes, because Petra _might_ have expected Levi to take her out to a nice dinner either Friday or Saturday night.

Yes, they’d just went out tonight, but she felt like she was on a roll with him! She could honestly say that at this point in time, the happiness she felt was similar to the happiness she’d experienced when they first started dating, which was incredible. It was euphoric, it was freeing, and it was all hers – _Levi_ was all hers. And even though he’d made mistakes in the past, she forgave him and they moved on. _Everyone_ deserved a second chance.

“Already packing?” Levi asked.

Petra whipped around at the sound of his voice, smiling and proudly holding two dresses side by side for him to offer his opinion on. “Which one do you like more? The pink one or the yellow one?”

“Yellow. It’s cuter.”

“You _do_ like yellow, huh?”

“It’s my favorite color,” Levi said, watching her fold it neatly and pack it away. “But you already knew that.”

“I did already know that,” she giggled. “We’ve been together for almost eleven years, so if I didn’t know what your favorite color was that’d be pretty bad . . . what’s my favorite color?”

“Uh . . . green?”

“Oh, Le –

“Kidding. It’s deep champagne, right?”

“. . . Yes. Yes, it is . . .”

“Don’t look so upset, weirdo,” Levi chuckled, undoing the buttons on his shirt with one hand and pushing his hair out of his face with the other. “Anyways, I’m tired and I can’t get our little brat to take a bath, so I’ll leave it up to you.”

Petra laughed loudly. “Daddy just can’t seem to get tough with her, huh? Just tell her to get her little butt in the tub! She’ll eventually do it.”

“Can’t have her hating me, now can I?"

“Oh, whatever,” she laughed again, heading out of the room to see just why Madeline seemed to be so against taking a bath. Petra was blissfully happy while doing so too, because _this_ was the life she’d always wanted - she’d always _craved._ And now that she had it, she was eternally grateful for it, and she would _never_ let it go.

* * *

The hotel was exceptionally nice. Eren had never been anywhere so fancy in lieu of not being able to afford it on his measly police salary. It didn’t matter how many years he worked and saved – he’d _never_ be able to come here again unless he was invited. He’d done as Levi requested and arrived after him, however the hotel lobby was so huge he found himself hugging the walls, desperate to hide just in case Petra happened to see him. It didn’t help that the place was nearly empty, which surprised him for the same reason it _didn’t_ surprise him. He expected it to be packed because it was so nice and upscale, yet he also expected it to be pretty empty due to how expensive it was.

Either way, Eren was shaking like a rabbit whilst hiding in a hallway, almost feeling so out of place he wanted to just go home. Besides, wasn’t this stupid anyways? Here he was, attempting to sleep with a married man in a fancy hotel who happened to bring his wife and child along with him. It was _horrible,_ and slightly embarrassing on his end. Eren hadn’t given up on finding a boyfriend of his own, but that didn’t excuse his current behavior. Levi wasn’t something he could just pass the time with – he was _married._ He had a _child._ What would she think if she ever found out her father was a serial cheater? What if she started to hate him? 

Beginning to feel nauseous, Eren decided to make his way towards a bathroom, but his phone went off and he instantly checked it to find a message from Levi asking where he was. Eren gave away his location without hesitating, all thoughts of this being wrong on a moral level instantly absolved by the thought of getting to see Levi. He met him halfway, matching Levi’s hurried pace, knowing he probably used some strange, suspicious excuse to get away from Petra for a few moments.

“Here,” Levi said, slipping Eren the keycard as if he were giving him drugs. “The host gave me the most asinine look when I said I’d booked two different rooms.”

“They probably know what you’re up to,” Eren giggled. “I wonder how many men come here and do the same thing?”

“Can’t be that many. Most men aren’t daring enough to chance having their wife and their lover in the same hotel.”

“Well, _most_ men probably don’t have a lover that’s as accommodating as I am. You don’t have to worry about Petra seeing me – I promise I’ll steer clear of her.”

Levi looked grateful for the reassurance even though he knew he’d explain it all away if Petra _did_ happen to spot Eren. After all, the fact that they were staying in the same hotel didn’t mean anything. She would have no reason to think this was anything other than completely coincidental. And as far as she knew, he wasn’t seeing Eren anymore. He’d deleted Eren’s number (having memorized it by now) and was smart enough to delete any text messages between them instantly after having a conversation with Eren.

He was completely innocent.

“So, can you see me tonight?” Eren asked hopefully.

“Maybe. I’ll have to see what my work load is like.”

“Got it . . . I’ll be waiting, kay?”

Levi smiled and kissed Eren hard, threading his fingers into his hair and breathing in his delicious, subtle scent. It wasn’t anything like the obnoxious $500 perfume Petra wore. Eren smelled fresh and clean.

“You like my shampoo?” Eren chuckled, realizing he was trapped underneath the Levi’s chin as the older man sniffed his hair.

“Yeah. Smells good.”

“It’s Moroccan oil.”

“Moroccan oil . . .” Levi repeated, committing it to memory. “Hmm . . .”

Eren attempted to remain Levi’s arms for just a second more, but his greed ended up being countered by Levi’s cell phone.

“Shit,” Levi grumbled, checking the collar ID and shrugging at Eren. “I’ve got to go.”

“I know. I’ll see you tonight – maybe!”

Levi watched Eren walk away, probably back towards the parking lot to get his luggage, and he sighed before making his way back out into the lobby to find Petra. Now that he'd returned from the ‘bathroom’ he helped her take the luggage up to their room, Madeline screaming in excitement and running laps around them as they made their way there. His kid had way too much energy, a personality trait she probably took from Petra – Levi personally couldn’t ever remember a time in childhood when he’d acted like that.

“Calm down, Madeline,” he said, expecting her to fly into the room as soon as he opened it: Petra beat her to it though.

“Levi, it’s _beautiful!”_ she gasped. “Oh, look at the view!”

Instead of looking he just collapsed on the bed, trying to muster up the mental strength to go and work. It had been such a long drive and a long day altogether, and normally he wouldn’t be this tired, but Petra and Madeline both knew how to zap the energy from him.

To put it lightly, they talked too much.

“Do you have to go work, daddy?” Madeline asked, throwing herself on top of Levi’s stomach and damn near knocking all of the wind out of him. 

“Soon,” he answered breathlessly. “I’m going to take a nap first.”

“Let’s leave him alone, then,” Petra suggested, taking Madeline’s hand and leading her towards the door. “Want to do some exploring?”

“Okay!”

Damn. Now would have been the _perfect_ time to go and see Eren, but he truly was exhausted. He could barely keep his eyes open anymore. So, he set an alarm for two hours, slept, and got back to work. He had a _real_ business meeting, not a fictitious one this time, to attend and he’d made sure to inform Petra that it would be over at nine when it was supposed to be over at seven. That would give him a little over an hour and a half to spend with Eren, which was shit compared to the time he’d planned to spend with him before Petra invited herself, but at least it was something.

The only problem?

His meeting lasted until eight-thirty, and instead of even trying to salvage the little time he had left, Levi just sat there staring blankly at the contract they’d worked through, blaming it for his sexual frustration.

“You know, I might get a room here,” Erwin said, leaning back in a leather office chair. “I didn’t know this hotel had meeting rooms like this. And the beach is amazing. Have you gone to it yet? Levi?”

“What.”

Erwin frowned, though his face quickly resumed a smile as he patted Levi on the back. “What’s got you down?”

“Nothing.”

“We finally negotiated and signed a contract today. Be more excited!”

How was he supposed to be excited when his tawny angel in white was waiting for him in a presidential suite and he couldn’t even go see him!?

“I _am,”_ Levi sighed. “Just tired.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“I can’t believe you’re planning on driving back tonight. Three hours? You’ll be lucky to get back by around midnight – you know what traffic’s like on a Friday night.”

“True, which is why I’m thinking about getting a room here.”

“Plenty are open,” Levi said, now taking the time to text Eren and tell him that he couldn’t make it.

“You’re not heading back until Sunday, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then, I might go ahead and rent a room until then.”

Levi sighed. “Good for you. I’m going to bed.”

 _“Jeez,”_ Erwin laughed again, staring at Levi’s retreating back as he walked away. “Cheer up a little! You’re on vacation!”

 _Vacation?_ Levi laughed to himself, dragging his feet as he made his way back to his room. This _could_ have been a vacation, even with all of the shit he had to do. Instead, it was turning out to be a slave-cation: all work and no play made for a very irate Levi, which was unfortunate for Petra. Even _she_ could tell he wasn’t in the mood when he walked through the door, throwing his phone on the nightstand and falling onto the bed.

“Did you meeting go alright?” Petra asked seriously.

“Yeah.”

“Are you okay?”

“. . .”

When he didn’t respond she checked his forehead, frowning as she removed her hand and dropped it back to her side. “You feel hot. I think you might be coming down with something.”

 _No_ . . . Levi thought desperately, hoping that this was all a dream.

“Daddy’s sick?” Madeline asked, also checking his forehead.

“I’m not sick. I’m just . . . exhausted from packing, driving all day, and then unpacking.”

“Well . . . maybe you should stay in bed tomorrow just to be safe.”

“No way,” he mumbled.

Petra wouldn’t take no for an answer. She never usually did, however as a mother, she knew best. “But – oh, your phone’s ringing. I’ll get –

Levi snatched his phone away and had it pressed to his ear so fast it was as if he wasn’t ill at all. No, he seemed _far_ from ill as he quickly made an exit, talking in a hushed yet serious tone on whoever was on the other end. She wasn’t suspicious or anything though. Definitely not. Besides, she had promised Hange that she wouldn’t act like a detective while she was on vacation. And seriously, she wasn’t straining at all to hear what Levi was saying over the phone. She just _happened_ to be near the door and Madeline happened to be eerily quiet as she played with her toys on the other side of the room, making listening in on Levi’s conversation effortless.

Still, this was completely unintentional on her part.

“I can’t right now – I’m busy,” Levi was saying. “I told you I was tired too . . . maybe tomorrow, but I won’t make any promises . . . Since when does my vacation involve me catering to _your_ needs? Didn’t I tell you not to come anyways? . . . Tch, you just love to bother me, don’t you?”

Petra backed away after that, joining Madeline on the other side of the room. That . . . couldn’t have been Eren, could it? It definitely sounded like a conversation they’d have, though a part of her was relieved that Levi seemed irritated. Did this mean Eren was still texting him even after promising her he’d cut things off? And did Eren have _seriously_ have the nerve to follow them here?? How would Eren even know that they were coming? He wouldn’t, right? Because that wouldn’t make _any_ sense, especially considering Levi wasn’t in regular contact with him and probably would divulge information like that to him.

Either way, _they_ weren’t supposed to be talking, so who was that on the phone? Should she ask him, even when she promised herself she wouldn’t get wrapped up in something like this again? Shouldn’t she just trust him? Although, it wasn’t rude to ask, right? Her curiosity was just that: curiosity. She wasn’t suspicious of him or anything – she just wanted to know. That’s all.

Therefore, when he walked back into the room, Petra very casually asked him who it was he was on the phone with, deciding to believe whatever it was he told her.

“Erwin,” he answered. “He decided to rent a room here and he’s excited about it because it has a jacuzzi in it.”

“How come our room doesn’t have a jacuzzi in it?” she joked.

“Because this is a regular suite. Only the presidential suites have them. Would you have preferred a room with a jacuzzi?”

“Who wouldn’t?”

Levi shrugged, and with nothing more to stay, he left to go and take a shower.

Truthfully, she felt bad for interrogating him like that since he seemed feverish, but at least she could go to bed tonight stress-free . . . actually, she could have gone to bed stress-free regardless of whether or not she asked him who he was talking to. He and Eren weren’t speaking anymore so what was the problem?

There was no problem!

Everything was completely fine!

They had a normal relationship, this was a normal vacation, Levi was a normal business worker, and she was a normal mother.

Their lives were perfect, okay??

What was she getting all wound up for?! Levi had _just_ told her he was talking to Erwin and he would have no reason to lie about that!

 _Ring_ –

“HELLO??!!”

“U-uh, Levi . . .?”

Petra breathed a sigh of relief. “O-oh . . . Sorry, he just got into the shower. Is this Erwin?”

“Ah yes, you must be Petra,” Erwin said, his tone lighthearted and somehow, very reassuring to her. “I don’t get to hear much about you, so it’s nice to finally speak to you. I meant to ask him earlier, but could you tell Levi that’d I’d like to have dinner with him tomorrow around five? There are a few more discrepancies about the contract we signed today that I’d like to speak with him about.”

“Of course!”

“Great. Thank you very much.”

Petra hung up after that, laughing awkwardly at her behavior. Great: looks like she actually _was_ letting Hange’s words get to her. She really shouldn’t be so susceptible to what people tell her. All she had to do was take the marriage counselor’s advice and trust in her husband.

All of Petra’s fears had almost been entirely dispelled when a knock on the door caught her attention. Lifting a perfectly manicured brow in confusion, she walked over and answered it, confused by the bellhop standing with an elegant white cart filled with food.

“Hello,” she said, greeting him with her usual cheeriness. “May I help you?”

He smiled. “Yes. I have an order for Eren?”

“. . .”

“Ma’am?”

“I’m sorry – _who?”_

The bellhop looked confused, searching his pockets and pulling out a small receipt. “Someone named Eren ordered – oh, I’m sorry! This is the wrong room! My apologies, ma’am.”

“W-wait! Why would you bring that here??” Petra asked, now getting frantic. Suddenly the water from the shower sounded too loud and she could hear the blood rushing through her veins, heart pumping loudly in her ears. She was growing embarrassed. Her face felt hot. Was she sweating?

The bellhop continued to look confuse, gazing at the small receipt with narrowed eyes. “Um . . . weirdly enough, it looks like the holder of the card this was charged to rented two rooms here. One regular suite and one presidential suite.”

“. . .”

“Sorry about the mix up.”

“. . . This food is supposed to go to someone named Eren?”

“That’s who placed the order.”

“. . . You have to be kidding me . . . **you have.** _**To be. Kidding me.**_ ”

“No, it says right there on the receipt –

She slammed the door in his face and walked back towards the bed in absolute shock and horror. Then she shamelessly took Levi’s phone, this time for a _real_ reason, and went onto the hotel’s website, trying to confirm whether or not he truly had booked two rooms. And he did: their room, which was room 321, and another room, a presidential suite, which was room 415.

So . . . not only did he bring Eren on his business trip, a trip that was supposed to be for business _only,_  but he also put Eren in a nice presidential suite with a jacuzzi while she got a standard room . . . And normally she wouldn’t complain about something like that because it was inherently silly, but she was his _wife!_ She was his wife, the mother of his child, AND HE WAS CHEATING ON HER AGAIN!!

No, he was cheating on her _STILL!!!!_

With EREN!!!!

WHICH MEANT THAT EREN HAD LIED TO HER?!

“What. The **FUCK?!”** she screamed upon hearing the shower turn off.

In that moment Petra didn’t care whether or not her impressionable four-year daughter was in the room either. All she knew was that she was _pissed off_ because she had been duped by her husband, who she seriously wanted to become her ex-husband, again!

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Levi asked, walking out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and wet hair. “Madeline’s sitting right –

“I _can’t_ believe we’re going to go through this again,” she hissed darkly, staring literal daggers into Levi. “Eren is here. In a presidential suite that _you_ paid for. A bellhop came to our room by mistake with food that _he_ ordered on _your_ credit card. Nice Levi. _Reeeallllyyyyy_ nice. Thought you were going to get away with it this time too, huh?”

“Daddy?”

Levi walked over to Madeline and picked her up, holding her so that her back was to Petra. If she saw her mother’s face right now, she’d definitely start crying.

“We can’t do this in front of our daughter,” he said seriously. “So what do you want to do? Do you want to talk about it now or when we get home? If you want to talk now, we’ll let her stay with Erwin until you’re rational enough to control your mouth in front of her.”

Petra couldn’t believe her cheating husband had the nerve to imply she was being irrational, but she’d made her choice rather quickly.

She told him to get dressed and drop Madeline off with Erwin.

This time, she wouldn’t let him get away with this . . .


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I'm actually SO overwhelmed by how many people enjoy this! I can't promise that I'll upload a chapter every week but I'll try! Thanks so much for your continued support!

When he came back she was sitting down on the bed, one leg crossed over the other and both arms crossed in front of her chest. She was defensive, geared up and ready to argue with every ignorant point he brought up. His silence spoke absolute volumes too. Petra knew that _Levi_ knew that he was completely and utterly in the wrong: seriously, she couldn’t help but wonder if he was _still_ going to try to defend himself after everything they’d been through.

“Go ahead and explain yourself,” she said, voice devoid of emotion. This time, she wasn’t going to be sad and miserable – she was way too furious for that. “And if you can’t, I’m divorcing you. I’m done.”

“Don’t be selfish. We have a kid together,” Levi scoffed. “You want her to grow up in a broken home?”

“YOU WERE THE ONE THAT BROKE IT YOU STUPID FUCK!!!!”

“Look –

“NO! LEVI, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?! WHY WON’T YOU STOP CHEATING ON ME?!”

“Petra –

“You know what?! Don’t even bother with explaining anything to me! Just TELL me the truth! Are you still seeing Eren or not?!”

“. . .”

“LEVI!”

“YES!”

She paused, huffing indignantly and trying to remember to breathe through her nose and out of her mouth. Apparently that method of breathing was supposed to calm people down – it wasn't working very well for her though!

“I’m still seeing him,” Levi continued. “There. Now you know.”

Her mouth dropped open in disbelief. _“Now_ I know??? I’ve known for a long time! But because you manipulated me, you convinced me that _I_ was the crazy one!”

“. . .”

“Now what?! What am I supposed to do now, Levi??”

“Whatever you want to do. You clearly don’t want to work it out.”

“Why would I work it out with you if you’re going to keep cheating on me?!”

“I’ll stop.”

“LIAR!”

“No, I’ll seriously stop.”

“Do you hear yourself right now??” she asked desperately, probably sounding absolutely insane and proving him right. “You have _no_ conviction in your tone at all. You don’t have any intentions of cutting off contact with Eren . . . and he doesn’t have any intentions of cutting things off with you, either. You’re scum, but he’s worse.”

“No, he _tried_ to cut things off,” Levi admitted. “But I convinced him not too. It was my fault.”

“. . . Do you love him?”

“No.”

“Do you love me?”

“. . . No.”

“Oh my _God_ . . .”

“But I love Madeline,” he said quickly. “Unconditionally. So, let’s keep that straight.”

 _“You_ should have stayed straight.”

“I _am_ straight. Eren is different.”

“Not really. He’s not that much different from all the other nasty homewrecking homos who spread STD’s around and sleep with married men.”

“Whoa.”

“What?”

“Not cool, Petra. Not cool.”

“You know what isn’t cool? A husband cheating on his wife, who has done _nothing_ but _love_ and _support_ him over the years, with someone ten years younger. That’s _super_ uncool.”

Levi shrugged. “I know.”

“So, are we getting divorced? Are you going to sign the papers?” she asked. “Because I’m serious, Levi. I’m not putting up with this shit anymore. If you want him so bad, be with him . . . but you’ll never see Madeline again.”

“Petra?!”

“Pick between her or him.”

“You can’t do that to me you bitch!!!”

“Excuse me?! Why can’t I?! I don’t want my daughter growing up around your influence, Levi! Your behavior is absolutely deplorable, and I don’t want her to ever think that it’s okay!”

“She’ll never know about any of this if you keep your big, fat mouth shut around her! If you divorce me, I can promise you that she won’t find out the reason why for as long as she lives!”

“Hahaha! Your promises mean absolutely _nothing_ to me at this point! You. Are. A. LIAR! You lie about _everything!_ You’re probably lying to me _and_ Eren! I bet you tell him you love him and then go sleep with someone else after you’re finished with him!”

“None of those things are true! I don’t love him, Petra! I have sex with him but that’s it!”

“That _can’t_ be true! People don’t just have sex without any feelings involved! You have to feel _something_ for him!”

Well, it was true that he was quite fond of Eren, but Levi didn’t think he was in love with him. He _definitely_ wasn’t in love with Petra currently, however he’d loved her at one point, and he explained all of this to her as carefully as he could so that she wouldn’t misunderstand.

“You don’t love me anymore so what’s the point?” she laughed. “I’d be stupid to think you could ever love me again.”

“Maybe . . . maybe not . . .”

“. . . Don’t do this to me, Levi . . . don’t fucking lie to me _again.”_

“I’m not lying this time, Petra. I’m being completely honest. If I loved you before, I can fall in love with you again,” he said, sighing when she didn’t look convinced. “Maybe we need to just take a break. I can get an apartment and you can stay at home with Madeline.”

“What?! No! If you have an apartment all to yourself you’ll have Eren moved in there so fast he won’t even have time to inform Hange that his address changed!”

“Fine. What do you propose we do then? Do you want a divorce?”

“. . . I want you to stop cheating on me.”

“And I’m telling you I can work on that. I don’t cheat on you because I’m trying to hurt you, Petra. I’m not just in love with you anymore.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Actually, he _did_ know, but telling her that she was annoying wouldn’t do their situation any good.

“Then there’s no reason for us to be together anymore,” she murmured, eyes downcast. “Let’s just get divorced.”

“Don’t take my daughter away from me.”

“. . .”

“Honestly, after hearing you use Madeline to threaten me, I don’t trust you enough to allow you to divorce me. Sorry.”

Petra shook her head, finally feeling tears well up in her eyes before slipping down her cheeks. “You don’t deserve her . . .”

“. . . I probably don’t, but by trying to hurt me, you’ll hurt her too. I’ll do whatever you want, Petra. Name it and I’ll do it.”

“Say whatever you want, Levi: I still don’t trust you.”

“Well, I’m not going to let you stop me from being a parent. I don’t know what you’re going to do on your end, but that’s what I’m going to be doing on mine.”

“. . . I need to think about this.”

“Fine.”

“And since I know it’s where you want to go, I’m telling you right now to just go.”

“Tch. You honestly think I’m in the mood to fuck after that? I feel like I could sleep for weeks.”

“Oh? Is that all it takes?” she asked, sounding equally exhausted. “Hmm. Maybe I’ll just have to argue with you everyday from now on to keep you from cheating on me. Moving would be a good idea too.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m going to get Madeline.”

“Mmhmm. Try not to make an extra stop on the way.”

Levi rolled his eyes. “I won’t.”

He did though, not to have sex or anything (because he was truly too tired for it) but to inform Eren of everything that had just happened.

“The bellhop told me about the mistake he’d made,” Eren revealed, frowning as he sat down on the bed, pulling his knees up to his chest guiltily. He’d let Levi into his room, yet the whole atmosphere felt strange because although Levi was here with him, he wasn’t here to do anything that Eren had been waiting for this entire time.

“I feel really bad.”

“It’s not your fault,” Levi sighed.

“I know, but Petra threatening to take Madeline away from you isn’t a consequence I ever intended for. It’s not fair, and if I’m the reason you can’t see your daughter anymore I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”

“She and I will work something out. Don’t worry.”

“Ugh, then why did you tell me all of this?”

“Thought you should know.”

Eren sighed, looking closely at Levi’s complexion before leaning forward to take his temperature. “You’re hot.”

“Thanks.”

“No, dummy, I meant your forehead.”

“Well, all this fucking stress is making me sick.”

“Get a good night’s rest for me then,” Eren said. “And tomorrow, maybe you can come see me and de-stress a little . . .?”

“Are you asking me to have sex with you after my wife threatened to divorce me?”

Eren looked guilty again, but as soon as he was swept into Levi’s embrace, the guilt subsided, quickly turning into to happiness as he curled up on Levi’s lap. “Hmm, you’re right. Maybe you should fuck your wife and remind her of what she’ll miss out on if she divorces you?”

“I do from time to time, but she probably wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot pole now,” Levi chuckled. 

"Mmm I don’t know how she can resist.”

“She couldn’t when we first met a million years ago. Marriage tends to ruin your sex drive.”

“Your sex drive seems to be perfectly in-tact though?”

“That’s only because I met you.”

Eren giggled and fell back against the bed, his white robe unknowingly parting to reveal a perfectly rounded nipple that Levi desperately wanted to enclose in his mouth. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Eren was comfortable enough around him to where a thin, silky, white robe with nothing on underneath, or maybe he was just _really_ deprived of his adorable young lover, because Levi’s hand began acting without his consent, fingertips grazing Eren’s chest and slipping ever so slightly underneath the folds of the robe.

“You’d better not start,” Eren teased, shivering when Levi parted the robe further.

“You look pretty in white,” Levi said.

“Aw, I do?”

“Yeah. White’s my favorite color.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Levi didn’t answer, mesmerized by the smoothness of Eren’s chest and stomach. It’d be a lie to say that he wasn’t in the mood to have sex _now_ , but he really needed to go pick up Madeline before Erwin fed her something weird or let her play with knives.

“I’ll come tomorrow.”

At those words, Eren sat up and moved away from Levi, closing his robe and taking the opportunity to go and open the door for him.

“You’d better. Now go.”

“Kicking me out already, brat?”

“I’m doing this for your family,” Eren explained with a small dejected sigh. "I obviously want to hog you all to myself, but your family unit needs you right now. I know you’ve told me that you’ll figure everything out and not to worry about things, but I _do_ worry.”

“Fine, but you’re stressing yourself out for nothing. Everything is under control.”

“You’re the one that’s so stressed he’s running a fever.”

Levi couldn’t argue with that point, and so he left, dazed from the small, innocent, shy kiss Eren gave him before sending him on his way. He couldn’t wait until tomorrow, his groin aching at the thought of getting to spend just five minutes caressing Eren’s smooth, taut skin. When he dropped Madeline off earlier, Erwin had asked if Petra relayed the message to him about having dinner tomorrow, and Levi told him that she had and that he would be delighted to meet with him. However, that was a lie, because he was going to be "too sick" to go anywhere tomorrow. Of course, this was the excuse he was going to use with Erwin, but Petra was a different story. Even though she knew what his ultimate purpose for choosing this hotel and providing Eren with a nice room was, Levi didn’t think she’d be too happy with sending him off to go and have a sexual rendezvous with her enemy. He could always tell her that he truly was going to have dinner with Erwin, though she probably wouldn’t hesitate to call and confirm it. And yes, he could tell Erwin to lie for him, but Erwin’s moral compass wouldn’t allow him to act as a direct accomplice in this web of deceit Levi was weaving.

Hmm . . . actually, he _did_ have other options.

He could always bet on Petra taking Madeline out tomorrow, maybe for lunch or to the beach or just to explore the hotel. That would give him the perfect opportunity to escape, but if she came back and found her husband, who was supposed to be sick, not where she left him, she’d probably flip out on him yet again. Jeez, this was so hard! And it was all because she came!

Speaking of Petra, what the fuck was he supposed to do now?! He was _obviously lying_ when he told her he’d try to stop cheating on her, but now she knew he was lying and he probably couldn’t convince her otherwise. Levi didn’t really have a problem with her divorcing him, though his reluctance to raise Madeline in an environment like that stemmed from the fact that he grew up without his parents living together in the same house and it ruined him. He _loathed_ being passed back and forth between their homes like some sort of commodity, and his father completely lost himself, eventually choosing drugs and alcohol over him. This turned visitations into something to dread rather than look forward to.

Levi wasn’t necessarily worried about himself suffering the same fate (as he’d probably consider dating Eren seriously if Petra really did divorce him), although he was adamantly against placing Madeline in a situation that might make her feel like he did. It was absolutely possible to co-parent Madeline and avoid any of the issues that were sometimes associated with a divorce, but Levi hesitated to risk it. In his opinion, working it out with Petra was in Madeline’s best interests. He was smart enough to know better than to fight in front of her, and he hoped Petra was able to mask any resentment or disgust she had towards him for Madeline’s sake as well, because he wasn’t sure what he could do at this point to make Petra happy.

Cutting Eren off wasn’t an option.

Lying to her had just gotten a hundred times more difficult though.

If he wanted to continue to sneak around, he was going to have to develop ways in which he could do it better than he did before. Unfortunately, he didn’t know if it got much better. He deleted all messages from Eren, showered before coming home after seeing him, only met up with him when he was sure that if Petra happened to call his work, someone would tell her that he was in a meeting (because if she called when he was with Eren, nine times out of ten he didn’t bother to answer), _and_ he made sure to give her enough attention to keep her from entertaining the idea that he could be cheating.

All of these things, even used in combination, would no longer be good enough.

What should he do . . .? Should he really consider moving? Would that make her less suspicious? Increasing the mileage between him and Eren wasn’t ideal, but Levi was running out of options. Regardless of the choice they ended up making together as a family, Levi knew what he _didn’t_ want to happen. But as far as setting actual decisions in stone went, he wasn’t sure what they were going to do.

After picking up Madeline and bringing her back to their hotel room, he once again collapsed onto the bed, although this time he stripped off most of his clothing and actually got _into_ bed with the intention of sleeping.

“Daddy, can I sleep with you?” Madeline asked, already climbing into the bed with him. Levi had assumed that since there were two beds, Petra and Madeline would take one and leave the other one to him, but Petra being in the shower made Madeline reluctant to climb into an unfamiliar bed by herself and go to sleep.

“Sure,” Levi said, almost instantly falling asleep. The last thing he could feel was Madeline’s small hand petting his cheek and he wondered if she knew he was stressed out. It was a sweet gesture, and it made him pretty happy to know she still loved him, even if he went to sleep that night dreaming about Eren . . .

* * *

The next day Eren was woken up by the sound of the bellhop delivering his breakfast and he sleepily stumbled his way over to the door and opened it up, smiling at the crazy look he was given.

“Sorry about the bedhead,” Eren apologized.

“No worries. I _thought_ I might be waking you up since it’s so early in the morning.”

“Yeah, to be completely honest with you, after I eat I’m probably going to go back to sleep.”

The bellhop smiled as he pushed the cart into the room, although his curiosity got the best of him and before he left he asked a question that had been on his mind since last night. “Um . . . pardon me for asking this, and please don’t feel obligated to answer, but is there something going on between you and the couple on the third floor?”

Eren froze, awkwardly fiddling with the silk belt that held his robe closed. “. . . You mean the couple you accidentally brought the food to last night?”

“Yes . . . it’s terribly rude of me to ask, so again, _please_ do not feel obligated to answer. I was just . . . very curious. I heard some of the hostesses talking about a handsome man who had rented two rooms here and rumor has it that he brought his secret lover with him . . .”

“I see,” Eren said, now slightly laughing from hearing the innocent bellhop inform him of the rumor that was currently circulating the hotel. “Well, it’s true. That handsome man _did_ come to this hotel on a business trip with his wife and he _did_ happen to invite his secret lover along.”

“Really?? So, does that make you . . .?”

“Yeah. I’m the secret lover.”

“Whoa . . .”

“Are you shocked?”

The bellhop shrugged. “This kind of stuff really only happens on T.V. so I suppose I am. Plus, this is a pretty upscale hotel and while I’m sure men come here to cheat on their spouses with younger women all the time, this is the first time I’ve seen a man come to a hotel with his male lover while allowing his wife to come too. He’s pretty daring.”

“That’s funny,” Eren noted. “He said most men wouldn’t take gambles like this and I think he's right: for example, I’m his opposite. I could _never_ do something like this.”

“Oh? If you were risk-averse, surely you wouldn’t entertain a relationship with him. Besides, you’re pretty good looking. I’m sure you could find someone to date with exclusively.”

“Hmm . . . you’re probably right.”

After that, Eren allowed the conversation to die and the bellhop took the hint, leaving him alone to stew in this thoughts.

First of all, Eren was _positive_ that he didn’t want to live this lifestyle forever. He eventually did want to date someone exclusively, perhaps share a home with them, and maybe even adopt a couple of kids. This was assuming he ended up with a man, which Eren was pretty sure he would. Women were the furthest thing from his mind after he caught an STD from one! However, he’d just see where things took him, and while he wasn’t a huge future planner, he _did_ have goals, and one of those was to be in a committed relationship before he was thirty. That was one goal he wasn’t about to give up, not even for Levi.

Speaking of Levi, he would have to let him go someday, which _really_ bothered Eren because they were so compatible (in the bedroom, that is) and he worried about finding another guy who satisfied him like Levi did. Although he preferred men older than him, Eren didn’t really have a type in terms of looks. Ironically, he’d always preferred older men because he assumed that they were less likely to cheat compared to younger guys who weren’t ready to settle down yet. Obviously, this little assumption he’d held to his whole life failed him miserably. If someone would have asked him ten years ago if he thought he’d ever be in this sort of relationship, he would have laughed in their face. This wasn’t really even a relationship! There was nothing between him and Levi other than pure, raw intimacy. And unfortunately, this truth bothered him more and more every day.

He’d never expect Levi to leave Petra for him, but a part of Eren always wondered what if and why not? Would it be so bad to date him? Levi couldn’t possibly be in love with Petra if he was willing to do this to her, right? Although, he could understand Levi’s reluctance to leave Petra and get divorced, especially after she threatened to take Madeline away from him. Levi wouldn’t be looked at very favorably in court when the judge found out their divorce was a result of his infidelity; however, it was extremely unlikely that him being a cheater would affect custody negotiations . . . but if Petra made a claim that his and Levi’s relationship had exposed Madeline to something indecent, she might have a case for full custody . . . she wouldn’t do something like that though, would she?!

This was why he didn’t go to law school. There were just too many rules and exceptions for a normal human to keep up with.

Besides, Eren couldn’t _imagine_ the guilt he’d feel if he were a lawyer and was sleeping with a married man. Lawyers weren’t really expected to have a strong moral compass in the first place, but at the same time, they were supposed to be defenders of justice! And as a police officer, he was _also_ supposed to be a defender of justice, yet he was totally crooked! The worst part about it was that he knew what he was doing was wrong, yet he refused to stop. He was selfish . . . This was yet _another_ reason as to why having this kind of relationship with Levi was bad. Every time he thought about it he started hating himself. Going back to being single until he found someone would be hard, and he’d already earnestly tried to cut Levi off once, only to fall for his charms yet again!

Even now he couldn’t stop fiddling with his cell phone, as if touching it would induce a message from Levi to arrive faster. He wasn’t even in love with this cheating bastard, so why was he so obsessed?! Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Levi treated him so well, despite having other financial responsibilities? Perhaps some innate, beastly side of himself with evolutionary explanations refused to give him up because Levi demonstrated that he could provide for him. Eren had to admit that without Levi he never would have been able to experience something like this. He hadn’t bothered leaving his room, but why would he with a jacuzzi, a 75-inch plasma screen TV, a huge balcony with a stunning view of the ocean, room service and a giant, luxury bed?

Oh yeah . . . the jacuzzi . . .

Without another thought, Eren finished his breakfast and headed over to the way-too-large-for-one-person square tub. In the midst of turning it on and adjusting the knobs, he heard another knock at the door which he hoped was the one he’d been waiting for.

Racing over to it, he jerked the door open and smiled appreciatively. “Hi.”

“Hey,” Levi responded, eyes wandering over to the jacuzzi. “Had a feeling I was coming, huh?”

“Maybe I received your telepathic message that you were on your way?”

“Maybe.”

“. . . So . . .” Eren said, practically forcing the word out after having melted into Levi’s arms. As always the older man wasted no time slipping his hands underneath his robe to touch him, moving way too quickly for Eren to try and keep up. He never usually did though, always allowing Levi to lead during their intimate moments.

“I actually need to talk to you . . .”

Wholly uninterested in talking, Levi began to strip off his clothes. “Start talking then. I guess I’ll listen.”

Eren sighed. “Okay, well basically – GOD, you got undressed that fast!?”

Levi shrugged and casually pulled the belt on Eren’s robe so that the silky material fell off of him. After proceeding to pick him up and walk him over to the jacuzzi, he realized that Eren was still trying to talk to him and it had him wondering if Eren was trying to communicate something crucial to him.

“Is this important?” Levi asked.

“Kind of,” Eren answered. “You’re probably not going to want to talk about it though . . .”

He could hear Levi sigh noisily, and even though he sounded irritated, Eren couldn’t be upset with him. Their time together was already limited, so he completely understood that Levi would be opposed to spending it doing something other than having sex. Still, he needed to say this.

“We can talk,” Levi said, scoffing when Eren moved away from him to sit on the other side of the jacuzzi. “You can’t sit in my lap and talk to me?”

“Not right now you perverted old man! If I do, you’ll be too distracted from touching me and you won’t listen to what I have to say,” Eren giggled.

Knowing Eren had a point, Levi sighed and allowed Eren to continue.

“So, I’ve been thinking about this dynamic we have –

“UGHHHHHHHH –

“Levi! Hush!”

“Alright, alright . . . I’m listening.”

Eren took a deep breath and continued again. “I’ve been thinking about this dynamic we have and I’m not really sure I want to continue it . . . I mean, I don’t want this kind of relationship forever. I eventually want someone who’s committed to me and only me.”

“I’ve told you that you’re free to look for another, long-term partner,” Levi said. “I don’t care. Not even I’m selfish enough to demand that you stay faithful to me when I’m not doing the same for you.”

“Well, I’ve been _trying_ to look for someone else. The problem is that it’s not working out for me. I know what I want, but it’s hard because that person doesn’t seem to exist.”

“. . . What do you want from me then, Eren?”

Eren could tell by the tone of his voice that Levi wasn’t amused with the conversation. Levi probably wouldn’t consider his feelings and answer him in a manner that wouldn’t totally destroy him either, although that was okay. It was clear that Levi would never be the person he wanted him to be, and while he accepted that reality, it was hard to not think about it and allow it to affect his mood.

“I think I’m in love with you . . .” Eren mumbled, quietly so that Levi didn’t hear him.

Levi _did_ hear him though, and he looked away with an expression Eren couldn’t even begin to decipher before sighing again.

“Eren –

“But it’s okay! I know you have a wife and a child, and I’ve said a million times that I don’t want to disrupt your family unit. I’d never try to take you away from your daughter and I don’t want my confession to make you feel guilty for not returning my feelings. I just wanted you to know.”

“Tch. You shouldn’t have even told me. Now it’s going to be awkward.”

“How so?”

“What do you mean??” Levi asked, trying not to get angry with Eren’s nonchalant attitude. “How am I supposed to have sex with you knowing that you’re in love with me??”

“The same way you always do! By the way, I said I _think_ I’m in love with you.”

“Don’t play a game of semantics with me, brat. Be honest.”

“Fine, but it’s stupid to ask how you’re supposed to have sex with me now. Nothing has changed. Does your dick suddenly not work anymore now that you know how I feel about you?” “

I don’t even know if I want to find out.”

“You’re not seriously cutting me off, are you?” Eren asked, innocently cocking his head to the side in desperation. “I didn’t think you’d be the type to be bothered by something like this.”

Levi didn’t think himself to be that type either, but Eren’s confession was particularly hard to deal with because he hadn’t sorted his own feelings out. Eren was cute, sexy, bubbly without being annoying, had a pretty smile, and was date-worthy for sure. Levi liked him – probably a little too much. But falling in love with him wasn’t ideal right now. He’d already decided that he was going to pursue the route of trying to convince Petra that he could be faithful to her for Madeline’s sake. Being in love with Eren would just make him more intolerant of Petra, and if he allowed his true feelings about her to show, it’d never work out. He didn’t want Madeline to sense _any_ hostility between her parents. And now that he’d caught a glimpse of how Petra allowed her emotions to dictate her behavior, he had to be even _more_ careful not to upset her.

Thus, the more he could think about Eren as a hole to fuck, the better off his chances of sailing through life smoothly would be. If he were really smart, he’d cut this off now. Eren was _terrifying_ with his gorgeous smile and soft skin and long eyelashes. And of course, if he and Petra ended up divorcing, Levi would have no problem with possibly dating Eren long term. But they hadn’t divorced yet, and hopefully they wouldn’t, which was why he need not entertain the idea of taking Eren as a permanent lover - _period._

“Just promise you won't act differently around me,” Levi said. “Because I’m not going to fall in love with you. I can’t.”

“. . . Why not?”

“Eren!”

“I’m sorry!” Eren quickly apologized. “I’m sorry . . . but why?”

“. . .”

“Okay, never mind,” Eren mumbled, finally breaking the silence that Levi refused to. “I’m not mad or anything either.”

“You have no reason to be mad . . . _you’re_ the one pursuing a relationship with a married man.”

“Do you mean that you’re not also pursuing me too?”

“That’s right.”

“. . . That’s odd, especially considering you brought me to this hotel and put me up in a room most people can’t afford and gave me access to your credit card during my stay.”

Levi narrowed his eyes, wondering if Eren truly had to guts to challenge him like this. Either he couldn’t read the mood, or he wasn’t afraid of pissing him off.

“Just because I brought you along doesn’t mean I’m pursuing you. If I don’t keep you content, you’ll leave.”

“And you don’t want me to leave because you must like me on some level, right?”

“I like having sex with you and that’s about it.”

It hurt his heart to watch Eren’s face fall after hearing that, but it had to be said. Besides, Eren shouldn’t fall in love with him anyways. He should find someone else that will be committed to him . . .

“Well . . . that’s okay! I like having sex with you too and I don’t mind if that’s all you want from me. After all, I told you I wouldn’t interfere.”

 _That_ hurt his heart even worse. It was obvious that Eren was trying to put on a brave front to keep him from feeling guilty, although it was clear that his feelings had been hurt. He felt like an asshole. Upsetting Eren like this was the last thing he wanted, but if he wanted his words to have any impact at all, they had to be said with a certain amount of cruelty.

Poor Eren looked so defeated though. His body language had changed immediately, and not even the fake smile plastered on his face could hide it . . .

“Come here,” Levi said, jerking Eren into his lap when he didn’t move fast enough.

“I’m sorry,” Eren apologized. “But today’s not a good day anymore . . .”

Levi kissed him, eager to make Eren stop talking and blaming himself for things that weren’t his fault. No, this was all _his_ fault. And instead of the wild detached sex he’d been dreaming of with Eren, now all Levi wanted was to make love to him – slowly and passionately – since that was what they _both_ needed. Well, actually, it wasn’t what he needed at all. What he _needed_ to do was just leave and not look back. Eren had surpassed the level of just being a casual fuck, and even though Levi couldn’t let him know that, it was the truth. The fact that he wanted to take his time with Eren, pleasure him slowly, and cherish these moments with him, said a lot. Levi was still sure he wasn’t in love with him, but he had to wonder what wanting to make Eren feel loved and happy, truly meant? Did he feel sorry for him? Was he _that_ emotionally invested in Eren’s feelings? He hoped not . . . because accepting that as a truth would make things _really_ difficult.

Even now things were difficult with Eren’s legs wrapped around his waist and his arms secured around his neck, his grip tight and unyielding, almost as if he feared he was going to leave. Levi had long since moved them from the jacuzzi and to the bed, soaking the sheets in the process as they fell down on top of it. Never before had Levi wished so strongly that someone would interrupt them, because he was allowing everything that shouldn’t happen to happen. Sex with Eren wasn’t supposed to be like _this_ – it wasn’t supposed to be this lovey-dovey, intertwined fingers, lip-locked, missionary-style type of intercourse. And while he’d never try to limit himself when it came to touching Eren, he was now doing it in a way that wasn’t consistent with how he wanted to view Eren.

Instead of touching him because he enjoyed the feeling of his slim figure and taut muscles, he was touching him like he hadn’t seen him in ten years. He was grabbing him, pulling his hips flush with his own, running his tongue over any areas of skin he could, encouraged by Eren’s soft moans of appreciation and gentle caresses. Eventually Levi pulled away to fiddle around in the nightstand for the lube Eren had brought and was greeted by the sight of sexy lingerie that was probably meant for his viewing pleasure. But for some reason, he couldn’t stand the idea of touching Eren only to be interrupted by a shitty piece of fabric . . . the thought scared him . . .

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Eren said, having taken notice of his hesitation.

“Shut up.”

Eren stopped talking, though he had no choice because he was kissed again, this time much more violently. He winced as their teeth clashed together, although Levi seemed apologetic because he pulled away from him slightly, giving them both a chance to breathe. Eren pulled him back though, returning his arms to their position around Levi’s neck. His eyes fluttered shut in pleasure when he could feel two of Levi’s fingers push their way inside of him, locating his prostate within seconds. His movements were slow and deliberate, and Eren had to wonder if Levi was treating him this way on purpose. He might have felt like he’d hurt his feelings by rejecting his confession, but if so, why was he doing this to him? Why did he have to treat him so gently, almost as if they were something more than lovers? Maybe Eren was just imagining it, and he probably shouldn’t believe Levi was acting differently than normal since getting his hopes up was a recipe for disaster, but . . . no, no buts.

So what if Levi was kissing him and sucking on his neck and moaning and taking way too much time to prep him? It didn’t mean anything . . . right?

“Um, Levi –

“Shut. Up.”

Finally, Eren got quiet and allowed himself to be spoiled. A small part of him didn’t want it, but for the most part, he did. He wanted to pretend, just for a moment, that Levi reciprocated his feelings and that this wasn’t just sex to him. When he could feel Levi pulling his fingers out of him, he whimpered in shame, knowing that it was probably a turn off to act so desperate around someone that was married and prioritized his family over him. He wanted to seem cold and detached so that Levi didn’t get this idea that he might suddenly become possessive in the future, since acting like that was a guaranteed way to ensure that Levi would never see him again. He couldn’t act needy . . . he couldn’t allow himself to complicate things more than they’d already become . . .

“Eren, please.”

Momentarily distracted from his mental rumination, Eren stared into Levi’s eyes, having no other choice since his face was mere inches from his own. “What . . .?”

“I can’t do this if you’re going to look miserable.”

“I’m not miserable . . .”

“Tch, yeah right . . .”

“I promise I’m not!” Eren pleaded. “There’s nothing wrong . . . what are you waiting for?”

“. . . I can’t do this.”

“What?!”

“Sorry.”

Levi just shrugged and sat up, looking around absentmindedly for his clothing. He felt like his balls were on fire, but it was impossible to go through with the act at this point. The mind-body turmoil he was feeling right now was enough to bestow him with the willpower to leave . . . which was what he needed to do in the first place.

“No . . .” Eren whined quietly. “Please . . .”

“Nope. I need to go anyways. I have stuff to do.”

“You’re lying . . . what can I do? I won’t look at you if that’s the problem . . .”

Levi felt sick, and then Eren started crying which made him feel even worse. Instead of leaving, he sat back down and allowed Eren to hug him, and he hugged him back, rubbing his back in an attempt to sooth him. Now he couldn’t do anything. No matter what happened today, Eren was going to end up getting hurt.

“What should I do?” Eren asked again, this time speaking into Levi’s bare shoulder because he couldn’t stand the thought of letting Levi see him cry over this. “How can I fix this . . .?”

“ . . .”

“I’ll understand if you don’t want to see me anymore after this . . . whatever you end up doing, I won’t mind, I promise.”

“Holy shit, you are _such_ a goddamn brat, Eren. You really are.”

Eren frowned, shoulders drooping in sadness. “I know . . .”

When Levi didn’t answer him, Eren sat back against the pillows and allowed him the quiet time he needed to think.

Meanwhile, Eren stewed in the immense regret he felt for even opening his mouth in the first place. Honestly, he thought Levi would have just laughed his confession off, but now that they were in this predicament, Eren realized he should have known better. Tension was already building between Levi and Petra, and him confessing had only exacerbated the situation. He shouldn’t ask questions, he shouldn’t speculate, and he shouldn’t think about Levi and Petra’s relationship. All he was supposed to do was wait for Levi to come to him and enjoy the sex, not fall in love with him. . . Putting this type of pressure on Levi wasn’t fair of him, and Levi had made it loud and clear that he’d never fall in love with him. If Levi wouldn’t ever return his feelings, and if he knew this before confessing, why was he so bothered and hurt? Why did the sex feel so weird? Why was this whole thing falling apart because of seven little words?!

“I need to head back for today,” Levi announced after doing some thinking. “I’ll text you or whatever.”

“No . . .” Eren said firmly, knowing that this was probably going to be the last time. “Stay. Please.”

“Eren –

“I know I just made things super complicated and I know that none of this would have happened if I’d just kept my mouth shut, but I don’t care . . .”

“You’re making this so much more difficult by arguing with me.”

“Is this it? You brought me to a hotel to hang out in a jacuzzi with me and finger me?? Seriously?”

“You’re making it worse.”

“I want you. Don’t you want me?”

“Of _course,_ I fucking want you, brat. I just don’t want all the baggage that comes with you!”

“Fine! I get it! You don’t have to see me again after this if you don’t want to, okay?”

“Don’t be stupid! I told you before that I won’t stop seeing you!”

“Then why are you rejecting me right now?!”

“Because I’m not in the right headspace!”

“I don’t understand!”

“I don’t either!”

“ . . . You make me so sad, Levi . . . if you’re going to play with my emotions like this, then just leave. I know you want to . . .”

At this point, Levi was waiting on Eren to make a move. It would be the only thing that kept him here, because common sense was screaming at him to walk away. If Eren even made _one_ move, _one_ gesture, hell if he even blinked at him, Levi would take that as a sign to continue. Still, he couldn’t decide if he wanted Eren to seriously throw him out or beg for him to stay. Both of those choices had strong implications that he didn’t want to deal with.

The noise of his cell phone ringing eventually disturbed him from his thoughts, enough so that he walked over to his pants to pull it out of his pocket and check who it was before answering. Of course, it was none other than Petra, so he instantly refused to answer it, throwing the phone back down to let it go to voicemail.

“Is it Petra . . .?” Eren asked solemnly. “If it is . . . you should go . . .”

Okay then.

This was it.

 _That_ was Eren’s answer.

“But I don’t want you to . . .”

“And you accuse _me_ of playing with your emotions?” Levi scoffed.

“. . . I’m sorry. Just go.”

Levi wondered how he was supposed to leave with Eren looking like a wounded, dying animal lying naked across the bed, staring at him with these wide, concerned eyes that seemed to beg him to stay. Leaving would probably be the right thing to do . . . but . . .

“Why are you still here, stupid?” Eren murmured. “I told you to go!”

“. . .”

“GO! Get out!!! I don’t ever want to see you again anyways!! I’ve had enough!!! I hate you!”

He continued to stand there and take the abuse Eren hurled at him until he’d finally exhausted himself and grabbed a pillow to cry into. Levi had always boasted about how much control he had over the situation. He felt _proud_ that he was able to juggle a wife and a lover, keep both happy, have his cake and eat it too.

But now his wife wanted to divorce him, and his lover was sobbing uncontrollably into a pillow. Some control he had. This had turned into a mess so big that not even he was equipped to handle it. There was no more rationalizing his choices. No matter what he did, he was going to end up digging himself into a deeper hole.

“Are you still here?!” Eren asked into the pillow. “What part of ‘get out’ do you not understand??”

What did he do?

Did he listen to Eren, leave, and lose him? Because that was what was going to happen if he did. Eren was clearly distressed and intelligent enough not to voluntary put himself through something like this again. If he left right now without offering Eren some form of peace, this was going to be it.

Or did he stay and keep stringing Eren along? Could he continue to play this stressful game of trying to keep two people – of which he didn’t even know how he felt about – happy? If he left right now, what was Petra going to think about him not answering her call? She probably knew exactly where he was at the moment. He was guilty whether or not he went back to their room right now or if he stayed the night here. Both options were hopeless . . .

“I’ll help you leave since you’re too stupid to do it on your own!” Eren cried, flinging himself out of the bed and hastily picking up Levi’s clothes. “Get dressed and get out! Whatever this was, it’s over between us! Do you hear me?!”

With the pile of clothes gathered, he thrusted them towards Levi’s chest, and when Levi made no move to grab them, it only served to infuriate him more. But before he could dive into a lengthy, angry explanation on how to properly get dressed in case Levi forgot, Levi kissed him . . .


	5. Chapter 5

Madeline wasn’t sure what to think about Eren the first time she met him. Somehow, she could have _sworn_ she’d heard his name before, but she couldn’t remember who said it and under what circumstances.

“Eren?”

“Yes,” Eren responded, bending down and shaking her hand politely. “Pleased to meet ya, little lady.”

She smiled, already beginning to like him. However, the true test of Eren’s worth would be if he knew how to properly play with Barbies. Mommy was the best at it, and Hanji came in at a close second place. Daddy couldn’t do it very well because he always made Barbie’s voice too deep for her liking. She preferred her father when it came to reading bedtime stories though – his monotone voice always knocked her right out. Maybe Eren could read her a story for a change?

“Eren?” she asked curiously. “Are you gonna stay with us while Mommy is visiting Grandma and Grandpa?”

“Only if you want me to,” Eren said. “Maybe I can get us a pizza to eat later tonight?”

Her mouth dropped open upon hearing the news: pizza? Was he _serious??_ Mommy limited her cheese consumption because she said cheese was bad for the body, but since Eren was willing to provide her with such contraband, he was welcome to live with them permanently!

“Please bring the pizza!” she said, excitedly. “Please, please, _please!!_ Pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza, pizz-

“Alright,” Levi said, placing his hand atop his daughter’s head to keep her from bouncing up and down. “Eren will go get pizza later this evening if you’re good.”

“You go get it,” she said, hugging Eren’s leg and gazing up at him fondly. “Eren can stay here with me.”

“Oh? You already prefer Daddy’s boyfriend, huh?”

“Levi . . .” Eren said softly, a hint of concern in his tone. “Don’t say that . . .”

“I was going to have to tell her eventually.”

Madeline felt as though her father picked up on her confusion, so he bent down to face her, silent as if offering her the go-ahead to ask questions. Feeling pressured, she racked her brain for a question that was appropriate considering the fact that she felt as though everyone else had known already known Eren for a long time. Eren . . . hmm, that name really _was_ familiar . . .

“Eren is Daddy’s boyfriend?”

“Yes,” Levi said.

“Um . . .” Madeline drawled, shifting back and forth on her feet. “What about Mommy?”

“What about her?”

“I dunno.”

Eren chuckled, also leaning down to ruffle her hair. “Nothing is going to change, Madeline. Daddy just wanted to tell you in case you had questions.”

Madeline nodded eagerly as if the explanation were obvious and she should have known better. “Oh, okay. Eren, will you live here now?”

“No, I can’t live here.”

“Why not??”

“Because Mommy would throw another tantrum like she did at the hotel,” Levi said, and from the tone of his voice, Madeline could tell he was upset about it. She supposed he had a right to be upset though. After all, adults shouldn’t act that way. Maybe it was then that she’d heard Eren’s name?

“Will I see you again, Eren?” she asked.

“Of course! Maybe a couple of times a month and only on weekends.”

“That’s not a lot!?”

“I’m sorry, sweetie, but that’s the best we can do for you.”

“. . . Is it Mommy’s fault?”

“W-well –

“Does Mommy not like you, Eren?” Madeline asked, this time with more desperation in her tone. “She’s met you, right?”

“Mommy hasn’t met Eren yet,” Levi said. “Which is why I want you to keep him a secret from Mommy. Can you do that for me?”

“A secret?”

“That’s right. Mommy will meet him one day, but you have to be patient.”

“Oh . . .”

“And,” Levi continued, trying his best not to sound threatening, but failing miserably. “If you tell Mommy about Eren, we’ll _never_ see him again.”

She gasped. While she wasn’t exactly sure why she displayed so much loyalty towards Eren without seeing whether or not he passed the Barbie test, she just _knew_ Eren was a good person who she would want to see again and again. He was very nice looking, smiley, and was going to give her pizza! Regardless of why Mommy couldn’t meet Eren yet, Madeline understood her father loud and clear: she would _not,_ under any circumstances, tell her mother about Eren **ever.**  

“I promise I won’t tell,” she revealed, quite resolute in her statement. “Cross my heart, hope to die.”

“That’s my girl,” Levi said, and then sent her to her room to play on her own, with his own promise that Eren would play with her later.

Watching Madeline happily bounce away made Eren feel a mix of emotions he couldn’t quite interpret, but Levi seemed relieved, so he guessed he should be too. In fact, it would probably be a lie to say he wasn’t ecstatic as of late. After their argument at the hotel weeks ago, they’d had sex (obviously) and Levi told him to give him a couple of weeks to sort out his feelings. Eren backed off completely, only for Levi to come back to him and tell him that he was ready to commit to him as much as he could, officially bumping him up to ‘boyfriend status’.

He couldn’t have been happier.

Even though Levi was still technically married, Eren could now say that he had a boyfriend and it wouldn’t be a lie. Of course, things were still difficult. He couldn’t live with Levi, couldn’t wake up beside him, couldn’t say goodbye to him before going to work, and other things that could be achieved if he were the only one in Levi’s life, but Eren wouldn’t sweat it. Levi was actively trying to spend as much time as he could with him, and after buttering Petra up for the past month and making her feel confident enough to take a weekend trip across town to see her parents, they could finally spend time together uninterrupted.

“You’re not seriously upset that I introduced you as my boyfriend to Madeline, are you?” Levi asked.

Eren scoffed quietly. “Of course, not . . . I’m beyond happy that you did.”

“Then why do you look so weird?”

Blushing and staring at the floor, Eren fell happily against Levi’s chest as the older man pulled him in for a hug. It was nice to hug him after a month of not being able to see him.

“I’m not weird . . . just horny . . .”

“Oh yeah?”

Eren nodded sheepishly, face buried in Levi’s chest as if embarrassed over suffering from such intense feelings of attraction to him already. They hadn’t even been in each other’s presence for longer than ten minutes and he was already excited to be underneath Levi once again. He could tell Levi was excited too, whimpering when Levi grabbed his ass and yanked him forward into his obvious erection. Feeling Levi’s cock against his thigh, so close to where it _should_ be made Eren weak in the knees.

“We need to be patient,” Eren said softly, clinging to Levi’s neck as the ravenette peppered kisses against his own. “Tonight, okay?”

“Fine,” Levi answered. “But if Petra makes a sudden trip back home and threatens to ruin this again, she’ll just have to walk in on it.”

Eren paled. “You’re right. What if she _does_ come back for something??”

“I watched her like a hawk while she packed. I made sure she didn’t forget anything.”

“I still can’t believe you got her to take this trip.”

“I can. She may have left, but that doesn’t mean she was happy about it.”

“Oh . . . do you think she still thinks something is going on?”

Levi chuckled. “Of _course,_ she does. She reads my texts.”

“With me?!”

“Obviously.”

If Eren was pale before, now he was as white as a sheet, dramatically shoving Levi away from him so that he could look him in the eye.

“Levi! What the hell? Why do you let her go through your phone?”

“I don’t _let_ her. She just takes it. What’s the big deal?”

“T-th-the b-big deal is that I’m not sending you anymore nudes, mister! You just lost that privilege forever!”

“Why? She sees the nudes I send you back.”

“Okay, but you’re her husband. It’s okay for her to see your naked body but it’s not okay for her to see mine . . . I honestly shouldn’t even endorse sexting. I’m a cop, after all . . .”

“I’ll stop asking you for them.”

“No, you won’t . . . plus, I like sending them . . .”

Levi shook his head, clicking his tongue at Eren’s behavior as though he were annoyed. “Will you ever stop being a brat?”

Eren smiled cheekily. “Want me to?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You can let me know in a few years.”

“A few years, huh? I _guess_ I can keep you that long.”

“I think you’ll want to keep me forever when you see the outfit I brought.”

Levi perked up at this, taking a backwards step towards the staircase, hoping and praying Eren got the hint and followed him. It was a long way to the bedroom and if Eren didn’t hurry it up he should expect to get thrown over his shoulder and carried up there like a burlap sack in the next three seconds . . . two seconds . . . one –

“I promised your daughter a pizza. But don’t think I’m not excited to play with you, because I am.”

Levi sighed. “I’ll go get the shitty pizza then.”

“You should get one with pineapple on it.”

“Pineapple on pizza is gross.”

“I’ll take a medium one of those please. Get buffalo wings too . . . actually, if they have boneless wings get those instead.”

“Anything else, your majesty?”

“No. Sorry for being bossy,” Eren said, sheepishly. “I know what I’m here for and I don’t mean to make you feel like you’re still being bossed around by your wife . . .”

“. . . Now I _really_ want to throw you down and have my way with you, brat.”

Instead of saying anything else, Eren just smiled and disappeared up the stairs. He figured that if he said anything else he’d just give Levi more of a reason not to go and get the pizza, and honestly, Eren was counting on this pizza to help him make a good impression on Madeline. If he were a self-centered jerk who only cared about getting his rocks off, he wouldn’t even consider giving Madeline the time of day. But he _wasn’t_ a self-centered jerk (at least, not in his opinion) and he loved kids, so why not try to get along with her?

Upon entering her room, he caught her in the act of making two Barbies discuss going to the mall together to go shopping.

“Hey Madeline. Going shopping?”

“Not me,” Madeline giggled. “Barbie and Stephanie.”

Eren nodded, appearing very interested. “Oh, I see.”

“Want to be Stephanie??”

“Sure!”

He definitely wasn’t an expert with children by any means, but he enjoyed talking with Madeline and listening to her explain things. A child’s imagination was pretty fascinating in its own right. It was quite clear that Madeline had already been shopping in dozens of high-end stores, as she informed him through Barbie that they could either purchase Birkin or Louis Vuitton bags. Eren couldn’t keep up with the conversation very well (and he wasn’t sure how Madeline could either considering all of the designer names she was throwing at him) but she seemed to be quite content, eventually informing him that she was tired and wanted to take a nap.

“Your daddy will be back with pizza soon,” Eren told her, laughing when she dragged him over to her bed by his hand, clearly expecting him to tuck her in.

“I know. I’m not going to bed though.”

“Oh? Then what do you call this?”

“Daddy calls it resting his eyes.”

Eren laughed. “Got it. You just go ahead and rest your eyes then. I’ll wake you up when the pizza gets here.”

Madeline nodded happily, drifting off to sleep as soon as her head touched her pillow . . .

* * *

It had been a long time since she came home. There wasn’t really a reason for her to be so distant with her family considering they lived less than an hour away, but Petra had previously been under the influence of the “married-and-happy” drug that required all of her attention to be focused on her immediate family. Indeed, upon marrying Levi she had been excited to move out and start a life and a family with him . . . that was no longer the case though, and with everything she had within her, she _didn’t want it to be_.

Petra was already having a hard time accepting the fact that despite everything Levi had put her through, she still enjoyed his company. His dry humor still amused her, she was still attracted to him, and she still craved his attention. Honestly, there had to be something wrong with her. Why had she grown up to be a woman that would accept a man treating her so horribly? Did she stay because she thought she deserved it? _Did_ she deserve it? If she did, why? Who had she wronged and what had she done to be treated so horribly? Why _her?_ Why did _her_ husband have to cheat on her and make her feel inferior because she was no longer young and attractive, yet at the same time manipulate her in a way that caused her to return to him for more abuse?

It didn’t make any sense, and it was one of the reasons why she’d returned home. She needed to talk to her mother about this. A part of her considered going to Hange about it, but Petra didn’t want to bother the busy detective with her marriage anymore. This wasn’t Hange’s responsibility – if anything, it was hers. _She_ was the one who needed to either demand change or leave, although somehow, it just wasn’t that simple. She needed counsel, and who better to get it from than her own mother? Despite not having a real education, her mother had wisdom beyond her years, and Petra almost cursed herself for not seeking advice from her sooner . . . although, she knew the reason why she’d been so hesitant to bring this up to her mother.

Her parents, especially her father, had not-so-gently urged her to marry Levi without even really knowing him. They knew his parents and that was all that mattered. That was all that mattered to her too, because she ended up falling for him and thinking herself the luckiest woman in the world. She could please her parents by marrying the man they wanted her to be with _and_ be excited about it. One of her greatest fears as a little girl was being forced to marry a man that she didn’t love and who didn’t love her either . . . unfortunately, it had come true.

Having a child with Levi didn’t work.

Denying his affair and seeking professional marriage counseling didn’t work.

Begging Levi to _just stop_ didn’t work.

No matter what she did, it truly seemed as though Levi hated her, and she had no idea why.

“Petra! Why are you just standing there at the door?? Please, come in!”

“Sorry, Mother,” Petra apologized, entering her childhood mansion quickly and stopping short before the butler who took her bags from her.

“Good heavens! Had you just stayed outside and allowed Charles to escort you in, we would have already sat down and started to catch up!” her mother continued, scolding her fiercely as she so often did before smiling. “How have you been, my dear?”

Petra relaxed immediately as her mother took her hand and guided her further into the home, heading straight for their dining room. “I’ve been fine. Who is Charles?”

“Our new butler. We hired him a couple of years after you moved out. Isn’t he just dashing?”

“I suppose.”

“Please sit then, dearest.”

Her mother gestured for her to take a seat at the dining table and Petra did so hesitantly, her face morphing into a frown when she was quickly abandoned. She understood that her mother was probably eager to have tea and cake prepared for them, (because without it they couldn’t really have a proper conversation) but she felt so far away.

Really, what was the point of being so prim and proper? She was _pissed off_ and wanted to punch someone in the face, not sip tea and eat cheesecake, pretending like everything was okay! And even though a part of her felt bad for wanting to express her feelings with all of the profanity she could muster in front her mother, Petra didn’t care! She literally felt like her life was falling apart and all her mother could do was sit in the farthest seat away from her and stare at her cuticles while they waited!

“Mother. I have something _very_ important to tell you.”

“What is it, dear?”

“. . . _Please_ ,” Petra bit out, a bit relieved when her mother made an effort to look at her seriously. “I need your advice.”

“For?”

“My marriage. It’s falling apart. Levi’s cheating on me and I don’t know what to do. I hate him, Mother. I just hate him! But a part of me doesn’t want to leave! Is this normal?? What should I do?! I’m so embarrassed to have to even bring this up to you! Father will probably be furious as well! But I just can’t do this on my own anymore!!!”

After everything came tumbling out of her she started to cry, amazed at herself for being able to when just moments ago she wanted to inflict pain upon someone. Her emotions had understandably been all over the place for years, long before Levi actually started to cheat on her, but she needed to get a grip. Even though it felt nice to have her mother rush to her side to comfort her, to run her fingers through her hair, and to pat her hand gently as though she were a child, she _wasn’t_ a child. She was an adult who had to make a choice . . . a very, very, _very_ difficult choice.

“Petra . . . I’m sorry, honey.”

“You’re sorry . . .?” Petra asked sadly, narrowing her eyes as if waiting for her mother to further explain herself.

“Yes, I am. I’m sorry . . . this shouldn’t be happening.”

“Please tell me what I should do, Mother. Should I stay or divorce him?”

The older woman looked confused, as if puzzled by the question. It was an awkward conversation to have with her daughter when she hadn’t seen her in months. With the exception of holidays, Petra never came home, and when she did, nothing seemed amiss. She, Levi and Madeline seemed totally normal and happy. Thanksgiving was always delightful, and last year they’d all rented a cabin in the mountains to spend Christmas in and it was simply wonderful. Everyone was so happy . . . However, she was aware that the happier and more normal someone appeared to be, the darker their secrets . . .

“How long has this been going on, Petra?”

“Years . . .” Petra admitted. “It started right before I was pregnant with Madeline.”

“Ah. I see.”

“I don’t think I can take it anymore, but I don’t know what to do.”

“You’re always welcome to come back home.”

“NO! Mother, you’re not helping! Aren’t you listening?! Levi gave me chlamydia! He’s just pure _evil_!!!”

“I understand.”

“Then why aren’t you disgusted and outraged!?! Do I deserve this?! What is it about me that’s unworthy of a man who can devote all of his love and affection to me?!”

“There is nothing unworthy about you, dear. Nothing. You _do_ deserve better.”

“. . . Is that it?” Petra asked weakly, beginning to think she was overreacting once again. Why wasn’t her mother angry and shocked?? Why wasn’t she holding her and comforting her?? Why wasn’t she pacing around the dining room screaming about what dirty pigs men are!?

“Honey, I need to tell you something.”

Petra just stared at her, shaking her head at her nonchalant demeanor and trying to understand her mother’s behavior. “Are you going to tell me that you’re not surprised? Did you think this day was coming?? Could you tell Levi was tired of me years ago?? Did you know and just refuse to say anything?!”

“No, I didn’t know, Petra.”

“Then why aren’t you livid?!”

“I am!”

“SHOW IT!”

Petra knew she’d crossed some line when her mother just collapsed against the chair, thanking the maid for bringing the tea and cheesecake. Instead of answering, she simply ate and drank, and maybe she was just gathering her thoughts, but Petra felt like she was being ignored yet again.

“Mother, you’re one of the most intelligent women I know. Without you, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. It’s clear that I'm missing something here, so please, help me understand.”

“I think you already do.”

“I do . . .?”

Her mother nodded. “Yes. You asked me if I was going to tell you that I wasn’t surprised. Your intuition is correct: I’m not surprised. In fact, I would be shocked if Levi didn’t eventually take a mistress.”

“. . .”

“Men do this all the time,” her mother continued. “Especially men in our echelon, dear. Your father is a prime example of one.”

“. . . Father did?”

“ _Does_.”

“But –

“Why don’t you ask the maid who just delivered our food and beverages about it if you're curious?”

“. . .”

“Have I broken you?”

“Mother . . .” Petra whispered, forcing herself to continue talking. She could be shocked later, but for now, she needed to be made aware of everything. “Mother, why do you allow it?”

“I’m powerless to stop it. And why would I? No longer having to service him has been one of the most liberating things that has ever happened to me!”

“. . . So, you don’t care? You just allow Father to sleep with as many women as he wants while you sit obediently in another bedroom and listen to it?!”

“Who says I'm obedient?” her mother asked. “What do you think my purpose for Charles is?”

“M-mother!!!”

“If your Father can be happy, why can’t I?”

“. . . No . . .”

“What?”

“I said no!” Petra screamed, grabbing her mother’s shoulders to aggressively shake some sense into her. “You can’t do that! What’s wrong with you?! I can’t believe you and Father are living your lives this way! It’s absolutely disgusting!!! You’re _married_! Does marriage mean nothing anymore?! It’s a sacred covenant – it’s a bond! You are dirtying yourselves by turning your back on your union and you don’t even seem to care!!!”

“Oh Petra, knock it off! Without your father you wouldn’t be here, and I would have nothing! I didn’t marry him for love! I married him in order to marry into _this:_ look around! Look at my beautiful home, my beautiful car, my beautiful garden, my beautiful fountain! I don’t care who or what he sleeps with! Why would I care when I have all of _this?!”_

“MOTHER?!”

The older woman briefly raised her hand before continuing. “Petra, I am so sorry that Levi is cheating on you. When you married him you were so happy, and I hoped and prayed he’d be good to you. No one deserves to be treated like you’re being treated and no matter what you may think, you _do_ deserve better. If you want to divorce him, do it. You can come back home and when you’re ready, you can find someone else to spend the rest of your life with. I’m not going to tell you to let it go and take a lover while remaining married to Levi. But, what I am going to tell you to do is follow your heart.”

“. . .”

“You are a very smart woman, Petra. You don’t need advice from your materialistic mother who remains married to one man whilst sleeping with another.”

“. . . I feel like I can’t breathe,” Petra mumbled, numbness beginning to creep over her. “I’m so stupid too . . . by coming home, I just gave him ample opportunity to cheat on me.”

“If you knew he would, why did you come?”

“. . . I don’t know.”

“. . . What did you think I was going to tell you?” her mother asked. “Do you want me to tell you to get divorced? Because if that’s what you want, that’s what I’ll tell you.”

“. . .”

“Or maybe you want me to tell you to go home and demand he change or sign the papers because you’re finished with him?”

“I feel sick.”

“Petra, I am very concerned for your well-being, so my advice is to forget about Levi and his mistress for now and enjoy spending time here with your family.”

“It’s not a mistress . . . it’s a man.”

“Honey, please don’t look so distraught. Your father slept with plenty of men too – it’s normal.”

“Don’t say that,” Petra growled. “It’s not _normal._ It’s not normal to sleep with women _and_ men. It doesn’t make sense. And why does Eren have to have _my_ husband?! Why?! Why can’t he just go find some other homo to have sex with?!”

“Why indeed . . .”

“. . .”

“Perhaps all this Eren needs is a little distraction?”

“A distraction?”

“We can discuss this further tomorrow,” her mother told her, frowning when she noticed that she hadn’t touched her tea or cheesecake. “For now, let’s take a walk through the garden. I’ve planted some absolutely beautiful ranunculus!”

* * *

Eren thought that _maybe_ it wasn’t a very good idea to where such a skimpy outfit. He wasn’t even sure what possessed him to buy it, but all he could think about after finding out that Levi’s favorite color was white was wearing sexy white lingerie for him. Eren had a very strong desire to please Levi, and even though it embarrassed the hell out of him, seeing how enthralled Levi was with his choice of outfit always fed his ego and made his heart race.

“Cute,” Levi commented, standing up and walking over to Eren as soon as he came out of the bathroom.

“No, stay on the bed,” Eren whined. “You haven’t even enjoyed me in it yet.”

After a few moments of hesitation, Levi returned to the bed, sitting down on the edge. “You’re right. Go ahead and turn around for me.”

“This feels like a porno,” Eren giggled, but spun around anyways.

“That’s because it is.”

“I could never be in a porno.”

In Levi’s opinion, Eren could _definitely_ be in a porno. He didn’t even need to have anyone else in it. Armed with only a bed and a camera, Eren could entertain for hours. Telling him something like that would just make him more nervous though, so Levi kept it to himself, instead choosing to focus on Eren dressed up as a sexy, innocent white angel. The main part of the outfit consisted of an adorable, corset-type of lingerie, meaning that it didn’t even show that much skin. All he could see were Eren’s deliciously dainty shoulders and collarbones, and the tops of his thighs that weren’t covered in thigh-high white socks and garters. Only when Eren turned around would one _know_ that this was definitely lingerie. Eren’s bare ass was amazing; but, clad in a skimpy white thong it might have been even better.

“Do you like the wings?” Eren asked hopefully.

“I like all of it,” Levi said. “The wings, the corset, the socks, the garters. I especially like the person wearing it all.”

He could tell he was embarrassing Eren with his language, and normally Levi wouldn’t allow something so cheesy to come out of his mouth. Eren’s reddening skin  _did_ provide a nice contrast to the white lingerie though.

Probably figuring that he’d been torturing him for too long, Eren finally made his way over to him, crawling onto the bed and pausing as if giving him permission to either remove the outfit or leave it on. Of course, Levi decided to remove it, jerking the flimsy material off Eren so fast he almost ripped it. The socks could stay though – they were a nice touch.

“S-slow down,” Eren giggled, feeling the breath nearly get knocked out of him as Levi manhandled him onto his hands and knees.

“You don’t get to torture me all day and expect me to go easy on you,” Levi growled, eyes scanning down the expanse of Eren’s smooth, tan back.

“I wasn’t _trying_ to torture you.”

Eren may not have been trying to torture him, but abstaining from sex for nearly a month and then being around Eren all of a sudden and not being able to immediately jump him was the _worst_ kind of pain. And while Levi hadn’t been counting down the days or anything, suddenly seeing Eren’s slim, toned and tight body reminded Levi of what he’d been missing. _This_ was what he deserved. Working all day and then coming home to an out-of-shape wife that nagged the hell out of him just wasn’t fair. He didn’t think he was being greedy or anything either – he worked nonstop and gave Petra half of his income to spend on whatever the hell she wanted! With that being said, if he wanted to fuck Eren in an angel costume as a way to relax, then dammit, that’s what he was going to do! That wasn’t too much to ask, right??

“Look straight ahead,” Levi told him.

Eren nodded and did so, unsure as of why Levi wanted him to stare directly at the dresser in front of him. His eyes squeezed shut in pleasure when he could feel Levi’s tongue slide in between his cheeks, running along his crack slowly and with just the right amount of pressure. There was no warning – one minute he was waiting patiently and the next he was quivering with goosebumps all over his skin and sweat pooling at his hairline. Eren remained upright and obedient, crying out softly when Levi became rougher with his tongue, demonstrating his sexual prowess almost too well for Eren. All of the little nuances Levi added served to drive Eren closer and closer to orgasm. It was the hurried impatience Levi used to grab and caress his thighs, the surprise scrape of his teeth against his bottom, the hot breaths of air between his inner thighs.

Eren felt like he was in heaven, dropping his head ever so slightly when Levi wrapped his hand around his cock, squeezing roughly and igniting more flames of arousal within the pit of his stomach. Instead of telling him to raise his head back up, Eren could feel Levi jerk his head back by his hair, reminding Eren of the order he’d been given. He was slowly melting from the pleasure, falling from his hands onto his elbows and rocking his hips in tandem with Levi’s movements.

“O-oh God . . .” Eren choked out, feeling his toes curl without his consent, his back arching further and further to compensate for the electricity running throughout his body. “P-please Levi, harder . . . mmm, I-I need more . . .”

He should have known better than to ask for more, since that was always a good way to get Levi to stop, but he didn’t this time, using only slightly more pressure to jack him off and lick around his most sensitive areas. Eren wanted so badly to drop his head in order to relax since his body was hurting from holding his awkward position, but he lived to follow orders, especially ones that came from Levi.

By now his fingernails were digging into the sheets beneath him, a pleased whine escaping his mouth as Levi pushed his tongue against his hole, teasingly slipping inside only to remain there for a few seconds. “Please put it back . . .”

Levi chuckled, debating on whether he wanted to continue to reduce Eren into a whimpering mess of quivering limbs or have his way with him. Eren may have been young and could hold out for a while, but he didn’t have much time left before he came . . . oh well, he could bounce back after one orgasm, couldn’t he?

Surprised when his wish was granted, Eren moaned appreciatively as the gentle probing became more violent, the hand around his cock pumping him faster to bring him to completion. He panted harshly, now desperate to cum as the double stimulation nearly drove him insane. “Ah, Levi! It’s so good!”

No longer mindful that Madeline was in house, Eren screamed until he came, struggling to stay upright as that familiar weakness enveloped his limbs and threatened to take him down. He felt euphoric, trembling in the aftermath of orgasming so fiercely all over Levi and Petra’s bed.

“I’m not done with you,” Levi said, leaning back into the pillows and expecting Eren to climb on top of him. He would give him some time to comply, but he wouldn’t wait forever – actually, he _couldn’t_ wait forever. After feeling Eren squirm and moan underneath his tongue, he was ready to explode.

Reaching forward, he swatted Eren on the butt, earning an embarrassed squeal in response.

Eren whipped around as though he’d been stabbed and pouted. “Don’t slap my butt.”

“I’ll do whatever I want to your ass. It’s mine, isn’t it?”

Eren blushed, shyly crawling on top of Levi to straddle him, trying not to scream in happiness when Levi harshly grabbed his ass and jerked him forward. He wanted to retain a certain air of modesty while being intimate with Levi, which wasn’t hard considering how Levi always went from 1 to 100 and left him struggling in the dust to catch up.

Levi smirked proudly once Eren nodded obediently in response to his question. Without wasting anymore time, he gently coaxed him down onto his awaiting cock, nearly passing out from the pleasure of being engulfed in Eren’s tight channel. Eren was quick to grab onto his shoulders in order to steady himself, so Levi kept his hands on his hips to provide him with as much stability as he needed. The brunette was refusing to make eye-contact with him, probably embarrassed over his position, but Eren had _nothing_ to be ashamed of. When Eren finally worked up the courage to start moving, Levi sighed in bliss, allowing Eren to do all of the work for once. Usually he’d throw him down, mount him like an animal, and fuck him until Eren was sobbing in pleasure, but this time Levi would allow him to set his own pace. After all, they had the rest of the weekend to have whatever kinky sex they wanted.

Lying back to enjoy the show, Levi thought about his current position in life. Not his _literal_ position, which was underneath Eren who was currently pleasuring himself with his cock, head thrown back and eyes closed in concentration. No, he was referring to his position with regards to his status as a husband, father, and of course, a serial cheater. Actually, he wasn’t a _serial_ cheater – surely a serial cheater slept with multiple people behind their partner’s back. If anything, he was a boyfriend more-so than a cheater, because now he was technically in _two_ relationships – one with Eren and one with Petra. Often times he wondered if he he’d have to make up his mind one day. Would he eventually be forced to choose his family or Eren? And if it ever came down to it, what would he do?

Ideally he’d have all of it, of course. To make things easier, Eren would move in and live in his own room – and Petra would be damn pleased about it too. She’d welcome Eren with open arms, enjoy his company, nag less, and bid Levi goodnight as he left her to be with Eren when it was time to go to bed. Maybe every once in a while he’d even sleep with Petra (although lately she acted like she couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him, much less the same bed). That would be the _perfect_ solution. He could live in the relaxing and pleasant reality Eren provided one minute, and in the next minute he could be a parent to his daughter. Petra would support him through it all, too.

Sadly, that could _never_ happen. Also, Levi couldn’t be sure of how much time he had left with Eren. Eventually, Eren would get sick of this and just move on. It wasn’t fair to ask him to play second in his life, and no matter how hard Levi tried to make Eren feel like he was his number one, Eren would never want to take that place in his life anyways. Eren’s selfless nature would always readily give that spot to Madeline, and she deserved it. She was the innocent child borne into this world and she didn’t ask for her father to cheat on her mother with his male lover. He’d already made the decision to introduce Eren to her as his boyfriend, which was something he grappled with doing for a while. However, that was something that _had_ to be done out of fairness to Eren.

Because this situation wasn’t normal, someone was going to end up suffering. All he could hope for was that he could make their situation and environment normal enough for Madeline to grow up in, keep Eren happy enough to stay, and keep Petra happy enough not to divorce him and take Madeline away. His first goal was obviously the most important one. If Madeline ever grew up to marry a man like him Levi would never forgive himself. He could cheat on Petra all he wanted, but no scumbag, piece of shit loser was going to do the same to his precious daughter. Thoughts like that probably made him a hypocrite, but what could he say? He was a successful father _and_ a cheater, and he did both pretty damn well in his opinion.

With that out of the way, he returned his focus to Eren, who looked dazed and confused over the fact that he hadn’t cum yet.

“Levi . . .?” Eren asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just thinking.”

“Am I not doing good enough?”

Levi chuckled, pushing Eren off and pinning him down, tickling his sides to induce that bubbly laughter that always made him feel better. So much for letting Eren have control over this one – in the end, Levi supposed he just couldn’t hand the torch over. He always had to have everything under _his_ control and Eren was no exception.

Eren’s laughs quickly turned into desperate moans when Levi began pounding into him with a pace he could have never hoped to achieve in their former position. Besides, he _thoroughly enjoyed_ being pinned underneath the older man, and he knew Levi enjoyed it too.

“Do you like having a cop under you?” Eren asked breathlessly, crying out in pleasure when Levi bit his neck as if to punish him for ever insinuating such a thing.

“ _Yes_.”

Indeed, Levi would _definitely_ have to fuck Eren in his uniform one day. He had a preference for submissive partners, but something about Eren being submissive while also having an authoritative position in society drove him crazy. Or perhaps Eren himself drove him crazy – those flushed cheeks, slightly watery eyes, and glistening, plump lips were certainly always very charming.

Leaning down, he captured Eren’s mouth in a kiss, feeling goosebumps run down his back when Eren threaded his fingers into his hair. The softest moan escaped from Eren’s lips, so sweet sounding that it made him desperate to thrust into Eren harder and faster, groaning when he could feel Eren tighten up around him and pull his hair harder. Levi felt blissful, rolling over and taking Eren with him so that Eren was back on top. He didn’t give him time to be shocked about it either – at this point he was unable to stop hammering into Eren like his life depended on it.

“I love you,” Eren groaned, fingers again tangling into the sheets as the pent-up pressure in the pit of his stomach threatened to release for a second time.

Levi didn’t respond for the first few seconds, too busy digging his fingers into Eren’s hips and holding him just where he wanted him.

“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath, trying to control his breathing as he finally came, emptying the raw desire that had been building up inside of him for the past month into Eren’s willing body. He could tell Eren came too when the brunette moaned a sigh of relief and collapsed on top of him, wrapping his arms and legs around him like some sort of koala. For a minute Levi just laid there hugging him back, wondering why it felt so nice and natural to hold Eren like this as if he belonged here. Damn, how the hell was he supposed to let him go one day? How could he survive with knowing some other man was going to get to enjoy Eren’s body like this?

What did he do? Was he running out of time? Did he need to have a more serious talk with Eren about their future _now?_

_Beep! Beep!_

“What was that noise?” Eren asked tiredly.

“Uh nothing,” Levi said, stretching his arm as far as it would go to grab the tiny black remote off of his nightstand. “I love you too. Go back to sleep.”

“Mmm . . . okay . . .”

With the remote finally in his hand, Levi pressed the button that would stop the recording and breathed a sigh of relief when Eren didn’t wake up and question his suspicious behavior. He probably should have asked Eren if he was comfortable with being filmed during sex, but if Eren knew a camera was on him, he wouldn’t have acted naturally!

 _Hmm,_ Levi thought, jerking the covers over them so that they could properly go to sleep. _I wonder if it’s illegal to record someone without their consent?_

Maybe it was or maybe it wasn’t, but if someone asked him whether making a homemade porno with Eren without his consent was worth risking jail time for, the answer was abso-fucking-lutely.


	6. Chapter 6

Petra had been following Eren all day. Yes, at this point, she was a certified stalker. It was definitely _not_ normal to follow someone around on their day off of work, but what also wasn’t normal was how innocent Eren’s day had been. She had, what she thought, an excellent idea of what type of person Eren was, however his actions so far had proved her completely wrong. The first thing she saw him do was go on a run. Then he went back up to his apartment to presumably shower, and then he went to the store and bought groceries. This had left her quite bored to be honest, though this boredom quickly turned into rage when Eren had the _nerve_ to volunteer at an animal shelter for the next three hours. How _dare_ he attempt to better society and entertain dogs and cats that didn’t have homes when he had morals similar to those of Jeffrey Dahmer!

Was this Eren’s way of feeling better about himself? He _certainly_ had to suffer from nightmares, lack of sleep, depression, anxiety, and the extreme amount of cognitive dissonance other homewrecking homos suffered from due to living such depraved lifestyles! Seriously, she could _barely_ contemplate how Eren managed to even show his face at work everyday knowing he was ruining her life! How could he accept kindness and friendship from others as though he deserved it? How could he function _normally_ in life with the knowledge that a mother and daughter were suffering due to his selfishness?! What else did Eren do on the weekends? Did he go to church? Did he volunteer at a soup kitchen? Did he put together care packages for the less fortunate children all around the world? Was that how he managed to stay sane?

Because she would surely lose her mind if she lived such a filthy lifestyle and did nothing to boost her self-esteem and sense of morality. It made her think of Levi and how he could live _his_ life while his wife cried herself to sleep every night. Not only did it hurt to watch Levi sleep so peacefully at night, but lately he’d been taking extra care of his appearance, similar to the way he’d done in high school. As they grew and aged together, they _both_ slacked off on their outward appearance. Of course, they always took care to eat healthy, but exercising and hair/skin/nail maintenance had been put on the back burner. That was normal for married couples. Unfortunately, Levi didn’t even possess the decency to hide the fact that he was trying harder to look better. He’d always looked great to her, but now all of a sudden he was in the gym five days a week and on a diet that excluded all starch and sugar. His results were sickening to her too, because she _knew_ who all the effort was for.

Was Levi _that_ desperate to keep Eren interested in him? What kind of magical powers was Eren endowed with that could influence Levi to start taking such care in his appearance? And for what?! Was he stupid? Did he _seriously_ think he could reverse the aging clock? Because she’d tried that all through her twenties and now that she was in her thirties she _looked_ like she was in her thirties! Actually, due to all of the stress, she more so looked like she was in her _forties,_ which was embarrassing and chipped away at the rest of the self esteem she had.

Men cheating on their wives with younger women wasn’t something new. It was all over the media _all_ the time. And while she had been shocked at the fact that it had happened to her, nothing hurt worse than having Levi cheat on her with a man. It was _disgusting:_ Levi wasn’t like _that._ He hadn’t been that way when they first met, and he’d never expressed an interest in men around her either. Levi would surely _die_ before he even referred to another man as “handsome”. This was part of the reason why she blamed Eren so much. This _had_ to be his fault. Levi didn’t deviate from the correct path on his own. Temptation had clouded his judgment . . .

Or . . . maybe he was actually, truly, unarguably bisexual and had been this entire time? Years ago, when she’d first set Levi up, Petra was more than willing to use a man to test his faithfulness since Levi had been ignoring her for months. He was acting cold and distant with her, refusing to look her in the eye, and said nothing about her efforts to please him. But when she’d set him up, deep down inside of her heart, she hadn’t expected him to take the bait. Actually, she’d expected him to yell at her for putting him in such a situation. She expected him to yell about how he wasn’t sexually interested in men and how she was an idiot for thinking he was. And to be honest, Petra had nothing against gay people . . . or at least, she _used_ to have nothing against them. She knew she was the kind of person and parent who could overlook certain behaviors, lifestyles, and actions that she didn’t agree with and that were perpetuated by someone else. But her husband and daughter weren’t allowed to live such perverse lifestyles!

In her opinion, gays were promiscuous, and she didn’t care who dared to argue with her about it! Also, Eren spoke for _all_ of them as far as she was concerned! Furthermore, they could be as promiscuous as they wanted to, but as soon as they got her husband involved, all bets were off! At this point, she now more than ever blamed Eren for this! Levi may be bisexual, but if it weren’t for Eren, it wouldn’t have ever come out and she wouldn’t have to live with knowing her husband gets off on having a dick shoved up his ass!!! She couldn’t _believe_ her father was the same way! Did no one have standards anymore?? Did people just wake up one day and decide they were sexually attracted to both genders??

How?!

_Why?!_

In the middle of her mental tirade, she failed to notice that Eren was leaving the animal shelter and she barely caught up with him in time to follow him home once more. Again, he left his apartment, but this time he headed for a small coffee shop in which he confidently strode into and sat down at a table with an older woman. To properly spy, Petra expertly parallel parked her car in one of the few empty spots right outside the café. The unfortunate part about her situation was that she couldn’t hear them, but she didn’t need to hear them to know what was going on. She could tell from that sinister smile on Eren’s face that he was gushing about _her_ husband to his mother. He was probably feeding her lies that revolved around Levi being his “boyfriend” and how he wanted her to meet him so badly, and his mother, none the wiser, probably ate up the lies whilst congratulating him.

What a pathetic scenario. How could Eren be satisfied with a life like this? Was he prepared to spend the rest of his days explaining to his mother why his “boyfriend” couldn’t attend Christmas and Thanksgiving parties? What would be his excuse for why Levi couldn’t spend the day with him for his birthday? How would he convince her that Levi _actually_ loved him, yet also explain away the reason why Levi wouldn’t marry him!? Petra had _so_ many legitimate questions that she felt Eren hadn’t even contemplated yet. Perhaps it was because he was still a bit young, but Eren needed to understand the gravity of his choices. Levi would _never_ fully belong to him even if their marriage ended in divorce, because she _would_ threaten Levi by working tirelessly to take Madeline away from him. She absolutely cared about Madeline having an adult male role model in her life to look up to, but she cared about hurting Levi’s feelings more! No part in her was going to allow her husband to divorce her and live a happy, fulfilled life afterwards. He could either stay with her and endure the suffering she would enforce upon him, or he could divorce her and say goodbye to his child. It was all up to him.

Besides, Madeline would be fine. She didn’t need two parents, and if Levi was going to start giving more of his attention to Eren instead of Madeline, then he didn’t deserve her. Eren should be at the _bottom_ of Levi’s list of priorities, but somehow he'd managed to inch his way to the top like the evil little worm he was. She _still_ didn’t know what was so good about him. Aside from him having no morals, Eren seemed immature and had the air of a kid still in high-school. He was naïve, in over his head with his career, and was probably suited better for work that didn’t depend on accuracy. Imagining him trying to wield a gun and shoot a criminal was just comical – Eren probably couldn’t even cook and Hange expected him to place someone under arrest?!

That’s right! What did Levi think he was going to actually get out of a relationship with Eren besides sex?? Eren may not know this, but Levi was absolutely incompetent when it came to running a household! He couldn’t cook, couldn’t wash clothes, couldn’t fold clothes, couldn’t fix anything if it broke, and basically had _zero_ skills in the domestic sphere! Half the time she was having to put Madeline back into the bathtub because Levi was too oblivious to make sure all of the shampoo was washed out of her hair before he let her out!

Levi _needed_ her. Without her he was nothing! Eren may have been better in bed than she was, but he could _never_ replace her in the part of Levi’s life he needed the most. He was a typical spoiled man and if he thought Eren was going to be able to replicate her skill and finesse in the home, then he better think again! Eren couldn’t give him _anything_ of importance, so why was he so enamored with him?! Either Eren has lied to Levi and made himself seem more worthy than he is, or Levi was just stupid. Or maybe Levi had a thing for young, ditzy brunettes that couldn’t do anything other than spread their legs like a **WHORE!**

She was getting way too worked up, probably frustrated over Eren looking so happy and nonchalant while drinking a matcha latte. Great – she _loved_ matcha lattes, but if Eren drank them that meant she had to quit! What else was Eren going to steal from her!?

“This is ridiculous,” she sighed, cranking up her car and getting ready to leave. She checked her mirrors once to make sure the road was clear before pulling out of her spot, rolling her eyes when some jackass in a Tesla whipped into it as soon as she was out of the way. There was plenty of parking in designated lots a couple of streets over, so why was Levi so eager to get a close spot?

Wait a minute.

Why was _Levi_ so eager to get a close spot?!

Petra slammed on her breaks and physically turned her body around in her seat to make sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her.

Sure enough, they weren’t. Levi had _definitely_ just gotten out of a car they did _not_ own and walked into the very same café Eren happened to be sitting in with his mother . . .

Oh, _HELL_ no!!! She didn’t even need a woman’s intuition to know what was going on and _hell_ would freeze over before she would allow it! Someone behind her was honking their horn obnoxiously because she wasn’t moving, and instead of driving rationally, she sped off in the direction of a parking lot to find a spot. No _way_ was she going to sit back and allow this to happen, especially now that she _knows_ it’s happening!

Did Levi think he was going to have it easy?!

Did he think he was just going to meet Eren’s mom, make a good impression, and then live happily every after?? What kind of fantasy world did he live in? Whichever one it was, his biggest mistake was not including _her_ in it! Levi could be in his little relationship with Eren if he wanted to – but he was going to work **hard** to maintain it!

With that in mind, she threw the door to the café open and stomped over to them, trying to remember not to laugh when she saw Eren’s wide, teal eyes gaze at her. It was a gaze filled entirely with guilt, remorse and fear. Unfortunately, she knew good and well Eren wasn’t guilty, remorseful, or fearful enough to take his dirty little talons out of her husband!

“Well, well, well! What do we have here??”

The three of them simply stared at her, their eyes all equally filled with raw confusion, but the _dumb_ look Levi was giving her made her the angriest.

“Hello Levi! Fancy meeting you here! Are you just stopping by for a coffee on your way home from . . .? Oh, wait a minute! It’s Saturday and you’re _supposed_ to be at home watching your _daughter!”_

“Do I know you?” Levi asked. “Because I don’t recognize you.”

“. . . You _fucker_ . . .”

“You’d better cool it with the obscenities, lady,” Levi continued before motioning over to Eren, who still looked as though he was at a loss for words. “My boyfriend’s a cop.”

“YOU’RE WHAT?!”

“My –

“Levi, why the hell are you continuing to lie?! Just give it up! You’ve been caught! I _see_ you!!! I know what you’re up to! And it’s not funny!!!”

“Where’s your wristband, Miss? We need to know what insane asylum to return you to.”

“Oh dear,” Eren’s mother said, shaking her head in despair. “Do you really think she’s . . . like _that?”_

“Maybe she lost her husband years ago and she thinks I’m him because we look alike?” Levi suggested. “Poor thing. It’s a shame they haven’t just put her down yet.”

“Oh Levi, knock it the fuck off!” Petra growled, turning to the older woman. “Ma’am, I hate to disappoint you, but your son’s boyfriend is actually _my_ husband and we have a daughter together. Eren knows it’s true too and that’s why he hasn’t said anything! Sorry, but the jig is up, Eren! Your mom knows you're dating a married man who has a kid and Levi, you make me sick. And drop the whole ‘innocent and confused’ look – you’re not fooling anyone anymore!”

“. . .”

“Someone say something?!”

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Eren said sadly, shoulders drooping in guilt.

“Eren? Do you know this woman??”

“Yes . . .”

When Eren said no more and decided to stare off into the distance, Petra felt like reaching out and slapping him on the back of his idiotic head . . . but if she did, _Levi_ would probably be the one to arrest her!

“Finish your statement, Eren,” she demanded. _“NOW!_ Tell your mother the truth!”

Eren hesitated as three pairs of eyes stared intensely at him before finally sighing heavily. “Mom, it’s true. Levi is married and this is his wife . . . he has a daughter too.”

“What in the world?? Eren?? Levi?? Wh-why??” Carla asked. “What is going on?? I don’t condone a relationship like this at all! You lied to me, Eren!”

“Are you shocked?” Petra asked. “Ma’am, your son is the _biggest_ liar I have ever had the displeasure of knowing! He is selfish, evil, immoral, and doesn’t care about anyone but himself!”

“I’m . . . not mad at you, Eren,” Carla said, glancing at Petra with suspicious, wary eyes – it was no wonder her husband was seeing someone on the side! “But I am disappointed.”

Eren frowned. “I know . . .”

Finally, Levi broke the tense atmosphere by glaring at Petra, who glared back at him just as fiercely. Instead of faltering under her gaze though, he just scowled and shook his head. “Thanks for ruining this for me. You’re the selfish one here, Petra.”

 _“I’m_ the selfish one?! _You’re_ the one dating a man behind my back! Actually, it’s not even behind my back! It’s in front of my face!!”

“Then close your eyes!”

“Seriously?! Is that the best you can do?! Tell me to close my eyes?! Are you stupid?!”

Eren lowered his head, already noticing a few people in the café starting to look their way. “Guys, just stop. You’re both making a scene . . . People are watching . . .”

“They should watch!” Petra screamed. “Hey everyone!! See this man right here?! He’s a cheater! He’s cheating on his wife of sixteen years with someone young enough to be his kid! And he _has_ a kid! How fucked up is that?!”

“Hey everyone!” Levi yelled, taking a stand opposite of Petra. “This fat, lazy, out of shape rhinoceros thinks it’s okay to use my daughter as way to threaten me into not divorcing her! She hates me so much, yet she can’t separate from me because she’s _still_ in love with me! And she calls _me_ stupid!”

“You don’t get to divorce me, shack up with a cop in his twenties, and still get to see your daughter! You can’t be rewarded for your selfishness!”

“Neither can you!”

“I’m not being selfish!”

“Yes, you are!”

“No, I’m not!”

“Guys!” Eren cried. “Enough! Seriously! If you don’t stop, I’m going to arrest you both!”

“You’re so selfish that you’d risk your own daughter growing up without a father because you can’t take the fact that you don’t arouse me anymore!”

“WHAT!? You think I’m upset over not being able to arouse you by sticking a dick up your ass?! Are you delusional, Levi?!”

“Are _you_ delusional?! You think I bottom?! Yeah fucking right!!”

Eren tried to interrupt the fight once more, only to have his voice blocked by Petra screaming back, “How am I supposed to know?! Sorry I’m not well versed in the realm of gay sex!”

“You’re not well versed in the realm of _any_ kind of sex except boring, missionary, baby-making sex! I’m not into that shit!”

“So you’re into immoral, non-reproductive sex that bears no fruit?!”

“Call it what you want but at least I can get off!”

“STOP!!!!” Eren screamed, standing up and making a bee-line towards the door. Before he made his dramatic exit though, he stopped and turned around to properly excuse himself after saying his peace. “You _both_ are crazy, and I don’t want anything to do with you! Levi, we’re through! I can’t be a part of your craziness!”

“Look what you did . . .” Levi growled through his teeth at Petra as Eren ran out of the café.

“I saved your soul,” she growled back in response.

“Saved my soul? I’m getting him back. He’s _mine.”_

“Good luck keeping him, because if he thinks he’s seen crazy yet, he can think again.”

Levi shook his head in disgust, backing away towards the door to run after Eren. “You won’t get away with this, you skank.”

“I think I already did.”

She watched him leave and for once, she didn’t feel upset at the fact that Levi had clearly demonstrated with who his loyalty lied. It was fine though – she didn’t care. He would get what was coming to him by testing her patience and understanding nature like this . . .

* * *

Eren hadn’t made it very far by the time Levi caught up to him and admittedly, a small part of him was surprised Levi came after him. He broke up with him and said they were through after all . . . which was something he instantly regretted as soon as he’d said it. He didn’t want to break up with Levi _ever._ He loved him, and probably more than he loved himself. Seeing him and Petra scream at each other like that though filled him with anxiety, and this feeling had been building up since this morning because Eren could have _sworn_ someone was following him around all day . . .

He was pathetic. What kind of cop let someone follow them around all day without confronting them, and then was too much of a baby to properly diffuse a fight between a married couple? All Eren had ever wanted to do was be a defender of justice, but what kind of defender of justice introduced their boyfriend who was married to their mother with the intentions of lying about the marriage part of it? And _then_ instead of dealing with the consequences like an adult, having to listen to a heated argument frightened him enough to make him run away . . .

“Brat, don’t make me chase you. I’m not getting any younger over here.”

“I’m sorry,” Eren apologized, turning around in the middle of the street and glancing behind Levi to make sure Petra hadn’t followed them. When the coast was clear, he took a deep breath and continued. “And I’m taking back what I said. We’re not through.”

Levi hugged him, wrapping one arm around Eren’s back and the other one around his waist. The arm around his waist was inappropriately low for the situation they were in, but whenever he was around Eren, his extremities seemed to have minds of their own.

“I know you didn’t mean it. You were just flustered by Petra coming in and running her mouth.”

“Did she follow you here?” Eren asked, curiously.

“I don’t think so. Must have been a coincidence . . .”

“I guess . . . although, I kind of felt like I was being watched all day.”

Levi raised a brow at the confession, and even though he scoffed at the idea of Petra being the one to follow Eren around all day, such a notion wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.

“Stop touching my butt,” Eren told him through giggles. “This is serious.”

“No, it’s not. Who cares?”

“I do. Stalking is serious, Levi. I don’t want her following me around without my knowledge. It’s weird.”

“It _is_ weird. I’ll talk to her about it.”

“Do you promise?”

“Of course, brat. I’ll do anything for you.”

Eren felt reassured by that and relaxed into Levi’s arms, happily allowing the older man to touch his butt as he pleased.

“You could arrest her if you want,” Levi suggested. “Isn’t stalking illegal?”

“Laws around stalking are complicated,” Eren revealed. “I can’t just arrest her. I’d assume the laws would be even more complicated in my case since I’m a cop . . . why do you want me to arrest her so badly?”

“Because that would solve all of our problems.”

Eren laughed. “You’re evil.”

“How evil can I be by gifting you a new car?”

“The Tesla?? Is that for me?!”

“Yeah. I figured you’d prefer something more practical than a ring.”

“You were going to give me a ring??”

Levi shrugged and awkwardly let go of Eren. “Tch, I don’t know. I’m trying to keep you happy and her happy and myself happy.”

“You don’t have to try so hard to keep me happy . . . I’m not going anywhere.”

“You say that after you ran out of a café claiming that we were finished.”

“You _know_ I didn’t mean it. I just wanted to get away from Petra . . . she scares me.”

“Feel free to shoot her if you feel as though your life is endangered.”

Eren rolled his eyes, but he smiled as he headed back towards the café where he’d left his mother all alone. He grabbed Levi’s hand to pull him along, humming happily to himself. “It’s been a great day after all.”

“Oh yeah? How about a perfect ending to a perfect day?”

“Is sex all you think about?”

“Ninety percent of the time, yes.”

“Oh God. I’m dating a pervert.”

“You just now figured that out?”

Eren blushed, trying to be mindful of the other couples walking the streets around them. As always, Levi unintentionally flattered him, but Eren said nothing. He had a feeling that if Levi knew how much he enjoyed his perverted behavior, he would never hear the end of it . . . which might not be too bad actually.

“When can I meet _your_ mom?” Eren instead asked.

“Whenever you want.”

“Could I meet her today then?”

Levi chuckled, amused by the desperate look in Eren’s large, teal eyes. “After everything that just happened?”

“I mean, we don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’ll understand if you need to go home.”

“Petra’s probably changed all of the locks by now.”

“You think? Because if she did, I have room in my bed for you . . .”

“I might have to take you up on that offer then . . .”

* * *

When Petra got home she was fuming. In fact, she was _so_ angry that the babysitter simply excused herself without bothering to give her a report on how Madeline had behaved. Seriously, what in the world was she supposed to do?? She wasn’t going to live like this! She didn’t deserve it and neither did her daughter! And what pissed her off the most about the situation was that Levi was right about her still being in love with him. She didn’t know why or how, but Petra knew deep down inside that all Levi had to do was apologize and offer to make things right and she’d give him another chance.

Of course, he needed to prove himself, because he’d already established the fact that he was a liar, and even though she loved him, she didn’t trust him at all.

She was jealous.

 _So_ jealous.

It was obvious as to where he’d gone and what he was currently doing too, and it made her completely sick with rage and envy. When she thought about how Eren was in her place, instead of it making her want to go out and find some other man to satisfy her, it made her desperately wish Levi could love her like he seemed to love Eren - which was _so_ strange to her. Wasn’t love more than just physical attraction to someone? Besides, if Eren’s personality was _that_ amazing, surely he’d be famous and on television by now!

After considering all that took place today, Petra _knew_ the _only_ way to save her relationship, it seemed, was to get _Eren_ away from _Levi._ Her husband was not in the proper mental state to be reasoned with at the moment. 

What Levi truly needed was to be dumped . . .

She thought she could handle this on her own, but perhaps it truly was time to take her mother up on her offer . . .


	7. Chapter 7

Eren was currently taking a nap in the break room. He was suffering from lack of proper sleep as of late, and sixty percent of it he attributed to Levi. He and Levi had both been working “late nights” for the past few weeks, so Eren ended up getting a maximum of three hours of rest some nights. Of course, Eren quite enjoyed working “late nights” with Levi, and until he was walking around like a literal zombie at work, he would continue with his current schedule. Besides, the more he saw Levi, the less time he felt like he could go without him. If meeting at three in the morning was when he got to see him, so be it. Plus, with the holidays just around the corner, he fully expected Levi to get busy with work and his family, so he needed to see him as much as possible _now_ before he had to give him up until things slowed down next year.

Upon hearing the door to the break room open, he shot up and stumbled over to the coffee maker, trying not to look as though he’d just been asleep. “Morning.”

“Afternoon, actually,” his coworker laughed, glancing at her watch. “Just kidding – we’re both wrong. It’s almost four o’clock.”

“Four o’clock,” Eren repeated, feeling guilty over the lack of work he’d done today, even though work merely consisted of filing papers and _trying_ to look busy. “I’ll . . . need to work a late night.”

“You have to anyways. We've got a newbie joining us today and the chief wants you to show him the ropes.”

“Ugh what?? Why me? Can’t you do it?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. The chief was adamant that _you_ had to do it. I didn’t even know we were hiring . . .”

Eren finished making his expertly-done-from-months-of-training cup of coffee and leaned back against the wall, swirling the liquid around in the cup a few times before taking a large gulp. “Are you saying he showed up out of nowhere?”

“Well . . . I work closely with the human resources department, and if we were hiring, I thought I’d know. Guess they don’t like me as much as I thought they did.”

“Welcome to the club.”

“Do a good job and you might get promoted.”

“Hange hates my guts. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Really? How come?”

Eren knew the question was coming and knew he couldn’t answer it honestly. Instead, he just shrugged and told a half truth. “I screwed up a job they wanted me to do. They’ve never forgiven me for it . . . I wouldn’t forgive me either . . .”

“Don’t look so solemn. You’re a good worker, Eren. Everything probably worked out fine in the end.”

“Only time will tell . . .”

“Hmm . . . well, once you wipe that depressed look off of your face, go see the chief. And cheer up: this could be a great opportunity for you.”

Eren didn’t really see how this could be a great opportunity for him at all, but he nonetheless finished his coffee and headed to his chief’s office. Following orders was the only way he could ever hope to be promoted in his job, but such a thing was unlikely seeing that Hange was his superior, so he wouldn’t get excited for it. He fully expected to remain in his role as the underdog until the day he retired. He’d actually brought up the idea of transferring with Levi a while ago, but the nearest precinct was forty miles away. Meeting each other in the middle was just too long of a drive, especially compared to their current distance to each other.

Since a transfer wasn’t within the realm of possibilities, he was stuck with what he had. He supposed he could deal with it though. If it meant he could still have a relationship with Levi, Eren could suffer through anything, including training a newbie . . .

Why was he so judgmental? He used to be in the same position, didn’t he?

“Looks like a lack of sleep is turning me into a jerk,” Eren groaned, opening the door and walking in. He very quickly tried to put on a happy face, praying that his efforts showed. “Chief. You wanted to see me?”

“That’s right,” the older man said, before passionately directing his attention over to the young man at his side. “Eren, this is Jean. He transferred in . . . from . . . well, that’s not important! Just know that he’ll be joining us and I’d like for you to allow him the opportunity to shadow you. After a couple of weeks of that, you can start training him.”

“He has to shadow me for _two weeks_ before he can start training??” Eren asked, feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand up. “My job isn’t that hard. I literally do nothing all day.”

“You do _nothing_ all day?”

Realizing he’d made a mistake, Eren quickly took back his admission. “W-well, I didn’t mean it quite like that. What I meant to say was that a few days of shadowing should suffice. If he were shadowing someone like Hange, two weeks would be a perfect time frame. I just think it’s unfair to make him shadow someone like me for two whole weeks . . .”

Eren watched his chief shrug before smiling again. “Tell you what. If you let him shadow you and do a good job of training him, I’ll give him your job and promote you.”

“WHAT??”

“Sure.”

“B-but Hange –

“I oversee both you and Hange and _I_ make the final decisions. I don’t have a problem with promoting you, Eren, especially if you can do a good job with Jean. How about it?”

“Yes!” Eren practically screamed, running over to Jean and grabbing his wrist. “Come on, Jean! I’ll show you around! Thanks again, chief!”

Eren didn’t stay to hear his chief’s response as he frantically got to work making sure he was the perfect shadow-worthy entity. He’d never shadowed anyone before, so he had no idea what he was doing, but this was the chance of a lifetime and he wasn’t going to screw it up!

“So, let me introduce myself,” Eren continued, finally stopping to properly face Jean. “My name is Eren Yeager. I’m a lowly police officer, and the most I can do to someone is write them a speeding ticket. My dream is to one day become a detective and in my free time I study infamous unsolved murder cases. JonBenét Ramsey and the Zodiac are some of my favorites.”

“Really? I didn’t know you did all that. U-uh, I mean, th-that’s cool. My name’s Jean. Jean Kirstein.”

Jean offered his hand to shake and Eren took it, along with the opportunity to study him. Jean was tall – much taller than him – but had an innocent air to him. That may change and Jean may prove to be rough around the edges, although the look in his eyes screamed innocence . . . or maybe not innocence per se. Perhaps Eren was just seeing agreeableness, which was a good quality to have in this department given how the superiors treated the underlings. There was always a time and a place to be a stubborn, hard-headed jackass, but here, one’s best bet was to play nice.

“Well Jean, Jean Kirstein, I hope we get along.”

Jean chuckled at Eren’s joke. “I suppose I walked right into that one.”

“Don’t worry. Half of the people here refer to me as Erin instead of Eren.”

“Isn’t that the same thing? Eren and Eren?”

“No. One is pronounced Erin and the other is Eren. Don’t you hear the difference?”

Jean looked thoughtful for a moment, head tilted back and eyes raised to the ceiling as he pondered the difference. “Eren . . . Eren . . . Erin . . .”

“There!” Eren said. “You _just_ said it!”

“I did? Eren, right?”

“No, you pronounced it differently.”

“Eren.”

“No, you said _Erin!”_

“Yeah, Eren.”

Eren laughed, finally accepting defeat. “Don’t worry about it. I respond to both names, so it’s fine.”

“Good,” Jean chuckled. “Because I might accidentally call you Eren instead of Erin.”

“I would prefer that you called me Eren.”

“Instead of Eren, right?”

“No, instead of _Erin.”_

“. . . How about I just call you, E?”

“I’m a cop, not a rapper,” Eren said, laughing again. “Speaking of being a cop, I need to show you what you’ll first have to master here in our precinct: the coffee maker.”

“Oh boy. I hate coffee,” Jean said awkwardly.

Eren shrugged. “Well, you will come to _despise_ it, grasshopper, because you will make around fifty cups of it a day. Suddenly, you will find yourself inclined to recycle, as throwing away so many Styrofoam cups will remind you of just how our precious our earth is. At the end of your journey, you will be able to brew a cup of coffee, add sugar and cream, and stir it all up with your eyes closed. At that point, you will have become a sensei instead of a seito. Got it?”

“Uh, I guess?”

“Perfect.”

“But aren’t I supposed to be shadowing you?”

“You can if you want, but when I said I do nothing, I meant it,” Eren groaned. “I’ll do paperwork on a good day. On a bad day, my job is to look busy.”

“How? Don’t you keep up with the murder investigations?” Jean asked. “Someone just got shot and killed the other day on Main Street.”

“I know. It’s not my job to investigate that though . . .”

“Maybe you’ll get promoted?”

“Thanks.”

“No, you _will_ get promoted,” Jean promised him. “After this is all said and done, I’ll put in a good word with the chief about you when he asks me to evaluate your performance. I won’t let you down, boss.”

“B-boss,” Eren stuttered, feeling himself blush. “That’s a little too far. I could never be a boss. I’m not that organized . . . or assertive.”

Jean shrugged. “I think you could be. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders and you seem to know what you’re doing. The chief said he’d gladly promote you, ya know. Just be patient. Your time will come.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Waiting is my only option at this point . . . so, all you do is lift up this little handle here and get a coffee pod and –

“Also, if you’re not busy after work, would you maybe want to grab some dinner?”

Eren froze, feeling as though he was about to enter a realm in which he had no experience in. While it was true that he’d gotten approached by men before, he didn’t know how to flirt. When he was with Levi he’d turned into a blabbering, incoherent mess of a human being because he was so attracted to him that it’d made him nervous, but with Jean it was different. Eren wasn’t attracted to him . . . at all really. Thus, all he could do was stand there and look confused.

What should he say? He should probably tell him no, right? Wait, maybe Jean wasn’t actually flirting? Maybe he was just being friendly, and there was nothing wrong with having a friendly dinner, right? Besides, Jean probably didn’t even swing the same way he did! What were the chances that he was gay? Probably slim to none!

“If you want to,” Jean added when he didn’t say anything. “I mean, I’m new in the area so I just wanted to –

“Ohhhhh!!!!” Eren said, laughing way more awkwardly than he should have. “I get it, I get it. Yeah, totally! We can go out and grab some dinner! I know a good place pretty close to here and we could swing by there after work!”

“Perfect!”

“Yeah. I – I mean u-uh, tomorrow! Sorry, I’m busy tonight! I meant we could go tomorrow!”

Jean raised a brow, and Eren could tell he was totally confused by how panicked he was acting right now. Eren felt like he was acting as if Levi was standing right behind him, but he had _nothing_ to feel guilty over! Nothing was going on right now that he wouldn’t feel comfortable with Levi hearing!

“Tomorrow sounds good. Not to pry, but do you have a date tonight?”

Eren’s eyes widened. “Uh . . .”

“I probably shouldn’t have asked,” Jean laughed. “I was just wondering. You seem pretty flustered, almost if you’re dating someone who’d have a problem with us meeting for dinner after work.”

 _“What??_ Where did you get _that_ idea?! What a _weird_ idea! You come up with some strange stuff, Jean! Heh, heh, heh . . .”

“Right.”

“Um . . .”

“I’d really like to go out for dinner,” Jean said, awkwardly trying to steer the conversation elsewhere. “If you’re game, then so am I. If not, just let me know. I’m not trying to force you or anything.”

“I-if you’d really like to go, I can go,” Eren said. “Let’s do it! It’s been awhile since I’ve gone out with a friend. People around here don’t really like me . . .”

“What?? Really?? What did you do??”

Eren laughed weakly. “You don’t want to go there. S-so, back to coffee . . .”

Jean listened attentively to Eren explain how to operate the coffee machine before Eren excused himself for a moment to “do something really important”. He politely gave his consent for Eren to leave (though Eren didn’t really need it) and took this opportunity to make a phone call he was, quite frankly, _desperate_ to make by now.

Entering a small, unoccupied room, he sat on the edge of the desk and made the call, feeling all of his resentment bubble to surface as soon as he heard the woman on the other end answer. Jean was very quick to respond, eager to inform her of his . . . issue.

“Petra, I can’t do this.”

“. . . That’s not what I wanted to hear in your first report with me,” she grumbled crossly. “What the hell do you mean you can’t do it? What do you think you’re getting paid for?!”

“Petra, you don’t get it!” Jean shouted, matching her furious tone. “I can’t _stand_ him! He’s weird! For starters, we got trapped in this annoying conversation about the difference between Eren and Erin! He’s all “don’t call me Eren, call me Eren”. What the fuck is the difference?! The names sound the exact same! Only a crazy person can detect the difference between Eren and Erin! Like, holy shit!”

“Oh, I _told_ you he’d be annoying, Jean! That’s why you’re getting paid to do this!”

“And _then_ he got all weird when I asked if he wanted to have dinner after work! I didn’t even insinuate I was interested in him romantically and he has the _nerve_ to get all flustered as if I am?! Who the hell does he think he is?! He’s not _that_ fucking cute, and his personality makes him even less attractive! There’s no way I’m going to be able to act all nice and proper and devoted around him! He’s already driving me nuts and we’ve known each other for thirty minutes!”

“Jean –

“No. Eren is _weird._ I don’t feel comfortable around him!” Jean insisted. “He gives off creepy vibes and he tries to make jokes that aren’t funny and ugh! It’s awkward, man. It’s awkward as fuck!”

“JEAN!!!”

“What?!”

“Listen to me,” Petra said, trying to remain calm. “Your goal is to get Eren to break up with my husband. I don’t care how you do it, you just need to do it. You _can_ convince him to break up with Levi without seducing him, you know. He’s not Einstein! If you need to, just try to convince him that seeing a married man is a bad idea. Pretend there’s someone else out there for him. Hell, if you know anyone else, set them up with Eren. Do _something,_ Jean! If you don’t, you’re not getting the rest of your ten thousand dollars!”

“You said this would be easy!”

“It _will_ be easy if you give it more time! I _know_ he’s annoying! Trust me, I get it! But I’m counting on you!”

“I don’t understand, Petra. Why the hell is your husband so enamored with him anyway?? Unless he’s a creep just like Eren, it doesn’t make any sense!”

“Don’t worry about Levi, Jean! Just do as you're told!! Are we clear??”

He had half a mind to hang up on her because as he suspected, Jean was beginning to find her just as annoying as Eren. “. . . Yeah.”

“Good. You’ve got one week.”

“ _One_ week?! I thought you said I have a month?!”

“I changed my mind! One week! Don’t call me back unless you’ve made some progress!”

She hung up the phone and Jean groaned, dropping his hand to his side. Petra was a certified bitch, Eren was weird, and his job was to pretend to be interested in _this_ job _and_ Eren in order to free Petra’s husband from the "sin of a gay lifestyle," or whatever the hell it was she said.

This whole situation was fucked.

But was it worth ten thousand dollars?

Absolutely.

* * *

Eren smiled when he could hear the knock on his apartment door, and he raced towards it to let Levi in. Before he could say anything, Levi scooped him up and squeezed him tightly, and Eren eagerly returned the favor by wrapping his arms and legs around him.

“Clean this dirty ass apartment up,” Levi said, kicking the door shut behind him and carrying Eren into the living room. “It’s filthy.”

“Aww, it’s not _that_ dirty,” Eren whined. “Yeah, there’s some dirty clothes on the floor, a few misplaced pizza boxes, an empty two-liter bottle of Sprite –

“Dishes in the sink piled up to the roof, a half-empty sack of flour on the counter, the kitchen table’s a mess with papers and books –

“Okay, okay,” Eren said. “I can explain all of this though. I made cookies last night.”

“That explains the kitchen, but not the rest of your apartment. As long as your bedroom’s clean, I guess that’s all that matters.”

“The bedroom’s the _dirtiest_ room in the house, Levi," Eren joked flirtatiously. "Didn’t you know that?”

Levi sat down on the couch, sighing in relief from finally being allowed to relax. “Probably should have.”

Eren wiggled out of his lap to sit beside him, pulling his legs up onto the couch and wrapping his arms around them. “Tired?”

“Yeah. Fucking exhausted. I’m spending the last week of December with my in-laws and Petra can’t stop reminding me about it.”

“So, we can’t spend Christmas together?”

“Sorry. This is just one responsibility I can’t weasel my way out of.”

“Yeah, I understand,” Eren said, his sentence finishing with a yawn. “Mom encouraged me to visit Dad during Christmas this year.”

Interest piqued, Levi glanced over at Eren suspiciously. “Really? Thought you two weren’t close.”

“We aren’t, but I haven’t seen him in a long time and when I tried to tell her I wasn’t interested, she was like “well, it’s not like you have a boyfriend to spend Christmas with,” and after that I kind of just agreed and left.”

“Eren . . . I –

“She apologized to me though,” Eren quickly added. “We had kind of been arguing about you for a week up until that point and she sort of exploded on me.”

Levi rolled his eyes. “Fucking Petra . . .”

“Yeah . . . if it weren’t for her, Mom would’ve never found out and she would have been okay with this. After everything that happened she kind of hinted at the fact that she didn’t want me seeing you anymore, and I acted like I didn’t get what she was talking about until she finally straight up _told_ me to end things with you.”

“I don’t blame her, but I can’t let you go.”

Eren blushed happily, resting his chin on his knees. “I know. I don’t want to break up either.”

“How about we go out on a date tomorrow?”

“Seriously?”

“Sure.”

“W-when?”

“After I get off of work. I’m supposed to be home tomorrow to watch Madeline, but Erwin is happy to watch her for me.”

“Um . . . okay, so weirdly enough, I actually made plans with the new guy at work to go out for dinner tomorrow,” Eren said, trying to avoid eye contact. “Sh-should I cancel on him?”

“You made plans to go out for dinner with another guy?” Levi snapped. “What the hell? Why?”

“I don’t know. He asked me and I said yes. He’s new in the area and he's shadowing me at work. It’s not a big deal. He probably just wants to make friends, and this is how he goes about it.”

Levi narrowed his eyes in suspicion, growing ever more irritated at Eren’s nonchalant expression. “If he wanted to make friends he’d plan a group outing. If he asked just _you_ to go out for dinner after meeting you for the first time, he’s obviously interested.”

“I promise he’s not. What are the chances that he’s gay?”

“He doesn’t have to be gay. Kids your age experiment all the time.”

“Okay, and?”

“And I don’t want you to be the subject of his experiment! Tell him no!”

“Whoa,” Eren said, holding his hands up. “It’s not like that. I don’t know why you’re so jealous. I mean, you _said_ you didn’t care if I slept around . . .”

“Are you kidding me?! That was _before_ we started dating! And why the hell would you bring up sleeping around if you’re so convinced he wants to be friends?”

“I didn’t mean to bring up sleeping around, okay? It’s just weird seeing you display this kind of jealously. I didn’t think you were the jealous type.”

Levi frowned, his expression softening as his rage seemed to dissipate. “Of _course,_ I’m the jealous type, Eren. After all . . . I gave you A FUCKING TESLA! YOU’RE NOT SLEEPING WITH ANYBODY ELSE AND DRIVING _MY_ TESLA AROUND?! WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!”

“LEVI! CHILL!”

“NO! TELL THAT GUY AT WORK TO FUCK OFF!”

“That’s kind of hard when he has to shadow me for the next two weeks! I won’t go out to dinner with him if that will make you happy, but I can’t avoid him while I'm at work, okay?!”

“Why do you have to be the one to get involved with him??” Levi asked. “Where did this fucker even come from!?”

“I have no idea,” Eren admitted. “He was just randomly hired today. It was totally unexpected. The chief springing him on me was even _more_ unexpected, but I can’t really do anything about it, now can I?”

“. . . Petra.”

“What about her?”

Levi continued to look pensive for a few more moments before he smiled and relaxed back into the couch.

“What?” Eren asked again, grateful that Levi didn’t seem to be mad at him anymore.

“She set this all up.”

“Who did? Petra?”

“Yeah. It all makes sense . . .” Levi said, mostly to himself, and allowed the conversation to die down.

When Eren didn’t respond right away he attempted to close his eyes for a minute to rest, although Eren cleared his throat to let him know it wasn’t over just yet.

“Why does it make sense?”

“It just does. She’s already been losing her mind, but seeing me meet your mother was the final straw. Since she can’t convince me to dump you, she’s trying to find a reason for _you_ to dump _me._ It’s simple, really.”

“It’s not _that_ simple,” Eren murmured sadly. “Is it so impossible that the new guy we hired likes me?”

Levi groaned, staring straight at Eren as he rolled his eyes obnoxiously. “Tch, here we go again. You _just_ told me he wants to be friends. Which one is it, brat? Do I need to be concerned or not?”

“You don’t need to be concerned. I just don’t think you should jump to conclusions. Who knows if Petra is the mastermind behind all of this?”

“I know. Just trust me.”

Eren sighed, awkwardly looking at the floor. “If this was really all her doing, she would have picked someone that’s more of my type. Jean is nice and all, but I’m not into him.”

“You give her too much credit,” Levi snorted. “She’s not that smart.”

“If she’s not that smart, surely she wouldn’t have thought up an elaborate plan like this . . .”

“How long are you going to keep arguing with me about it?? Just drop it!”

“I’m not arguing with you! I’m just saying!”

“Saying what??”

“Saying that it’s not impossible that someone wants to shoot their shot with me! Even though I seriously have no idea if Jean is romantically interested in me, I’m going to tell him tomorrow at work that I’m not interested, okay? It’s . . . it’s just frustrating that you’re so quick to think that the first guy that’s shown interest in me is working for your wife!”

“Alright, whatever,” Levi sighed, standing up. “I’ve got some work to do. Text me tomorrow if you still want to go out for dinner.”

“No,” Eren whined, grabbing Levi’s hand to stop his hasty exit. “I’m not trying to start an argument here.”

“Neither am I. Which is why I’m leaving now.”

“Come on.”

“No,” Levi said, his voice void of any emotion. “I feel like I’ve got chlamydia all over again just from being in your disgusting apartment.”

“My apartment isn’t disgusting . . . and that wasn’t funny . . .”

“Let go of my hand.”

When Eren could feel Levi jerk his hand away from him, he too had had enough and headed into his room, expecting Levi to let himself out. He couldn’t tell whether they were fighting or not, but getting on bad terms with his boyfriend right before he was about to leave for an entire week wasn’t ideal, so Eren tried to quickly apologize in order to smooth things over.

Unfortunately, it was too late, as Levi had already half-slammed/half-closed his apartment door on his way out.

“Well . . . at least he didn’t _totally_ slam it,” Eren muttered, falling into his unmade bed for a nap that quickly turned into a ten-hour, dreamless sleep . . .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will only be two chapters left of this story (not including this one)! I'm kind of ending it a little early because I don't know where else to take it, and Levi has been cheating on Petra for an OBSCENELY long amount of time, almost to the point of where it's getting a bit ridiculous lol


	8. Chapter 8

Jean noticed that Eren wasn’t in the greatest of moods the next day at work, and he argued with himself for nearly thirty minutes over whether or not he should ask Eren what was wrong. He knew that if he _did_ ask, Eren was going to talk his ear off about whatever issue he was having, and Jean was almost a hundred percent sure it had something to do with Petra’s whore of a husband. He _still_ couldn’t understand why Petra was fighting so hard for her marriage. _She_ should be the one to dump Levi and just allow Eren to have him. Besides, how amazing could Levi be if he was willing to cheat on his wife of over ten years with _Eren_?!

Maybe Petra refused to leave him because she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to find anyone else? Yeah, that must have been it. After all, she was _severely_ annoying in Jean’s opinion . . . Eren was just as bad though. Levi must have had a thing for weird, annoying people. As a matter of fact, Levi himself was probably pretty annoying.

 _Or maybe I’m just super sensitive?_ Jean wondered, swallowing his pride and turning around in his swivel chair to get Eren’s attention. This was it: he _had_ to go for it. It’d be dumb not to. His job was to convince Eren to leave Levi, and if they’d had a fight last night, his chances didn’t get any better than this.

“Hey buddy,” Jean said, tapping Eren on the shoulder. “Feeling okay?”

Eren remained focused on his work, his pen scribbling notes as he stared blankly at the pieces of paper before him. He’d been writing all day, but he’d be damned if he knew _what_ he was writing. Today was one of those days where Eren was on autopilot . . . and it was all Levi’s fault . . .

“I’m fine,” Eren responded, stoic and terse. “Just finishing up some paperwork.”

“No way are you fine,” Jean continued. “You’ve sighed about five hundred times in the last hour. Something _has_ to be up.”

“Nope.”

“. . . Talk to me,” Jean said, clenching the fist that wasn’t holding a cup of coffee so hard his nails were digging into the palm of his hand.

“Nope.”

 _Oh my God, if he pops the P on ‘nope’ ONE more fucking time, I’m going to lose it,_ Jean thought, his leg beginning to shake from the anxiety building within him. “Eren, dude, you can’t work like this. I won’t judge you. Talking about it will make you feel better.”

“Nope.”

Jean started screaming, but thankfully he was able to keep it inside of his head.

“Alright fine,” Eren said, changing his mind as he too turned around in his chair. “Basically . . . wait, are you okay? Your face is bright red.”

“. . . I’m fine . . .”

Eren shrugged. “Well, you seem sick, so I’ll make this quick. I got into a _small_ fight with my . . . significant other last night.”

“Oh, a small fight, huh? That’s nothing to be upset over then.”

“No, I _should_ be upset because the holidays are coming up and I can’t spend Christmas with him – THEM! I meant, them!”

Seeing that Eren was getting flustered once again, Jean quickly tried to diffuse the situation. It wouldn’t be in his best interests for Eren to get nervous and clam up. “It’s fine, Eren. I don’t care about your sexuality.”

“Y-you don’t?”

“No. And if it makes you feel better, I won’t tell anybody. We’re nearing 2020, ya know. Not many people care about what you do behind closed doors.”

“Yeah . . . I just hope we can resolve our differences soon, because I’m going to have to go a week without him and . . .” Eren mumbled, momentarily trailing off. “And I know it sounds stupid to complain about not seeing him for a week, but I love him.”

“You do?”

“Yes. I love him _so much_ it hurts sometimes . . .”

“Well, if he returned your love equally as strong, he wouldn’t leave you during the holidays. Where’s this guy going?”

“Um . . . he’s going away with his family.”

“WHAT?! Without _you?!”_

“He’s actually married . . .”

“No . . . _way_ . . .”

Eren could tell Jean wasn’t judging him even though his face reflected pure shock. He couldn’t blame him though. His situation with Levi wasn’t unheard of or uncommon (in his opinion) but he understood how weird it was to know someone _personally_ who was in such a situation. Jean probably had a whole list of questions that would probably take the rest of the day to go through, however Eren didn’t mind talking to him about it. For some reason, he trusted Jean. Besides, an officer wouldn’t lie, right?

“I know it’s weird,” Eren sighed. “But it’s my life.”

“Is this arrangement going to last forever??” Jean asked, curiously. “Because honestly, it probably can’t. I’m not telling you to break up with the guy or anything, but what about your future?”

“What about it?”

“Are you going to spend the rest of your life with someone who can’t even spend the holidays with you?”

Eren shrugged, feeling guilty for some strange reason. “We spend plenty of time together. Besides, I know better than to complain. His family comes first, and I come second. That’s the natural order of things. I know he loves me, and I love him. Isn’t that all that should matter?”

“Up to a point. Beyond that point, you have to consider your own future. Don’t you want a house one day? Don’t you want to get married? Don’t you want to raise kids? Maybe you’ll want to move somewhere else? These are all things that are better talked about and done with a partner that’s committed to you and only you.”

“You should have been a therapist, Jean,” Eren chuckled. “Seriously. You’d make a great life coach.”

Jean shrugged, also chuckling. “Well thanks. But it doesn’t take any specific kind of training to consider your feelings, Eren. Even though I’ve never been in a situation similar to yours, I really empathize with you. I’m sorry that you have to go through what you go through.”

“Yeah . . .”

Jean thought very carefully about what his next options were. He could say something along the lines of “if it were me, I’d never make you so upset” and Eren could react to this a few different ways. One, he could outright refuse him, which wasn’t very likely in Jean’s opinion. Two, he could stammer and stutter endlessly about how he wasn’t really expecting to hear something like that, and while he appreciated the offer, he couldn’t return his feelings. Or three, he could humor him and give him a chance, something that both disgusted _and_ freaked Jean out.

Maybe he should just continue to console Eren while reminding him that there were other fish in the sea? Yeah, better go with that option.

“There are plenty of fish in the sea, Eren.”

“I want the fish I have _now_ though . . .”

Jean paused, struggling to figure out how to react. “I . . . I get it . . .”

“I get what you’re saying too,” Eren said. “But I’ve already been through this with him. We’ve thought about breaking up – trust me, we have. We just _can’t_. I appreciate your help though . . .”

“So, does that mean you won’t want to talk about it over dinner?” Jean asked.

“Oh yeah, sorry. I can’t go out to dinner with you. He told me I couldn’t.”

“What?? No way! We’re just friends!” Jean shouted, admittedly feeling a bit enraged over what Eren just told him. “Did you _tell_ him we were friends?”

“Yeah, but he started taking it in a weird direction. It’s kind of silly – you wouldn’t want to hear it.”

“No, tell me.”

“It really doesn’t make any sense.”

“Go on,” Jean urged him. “I’m all ears.”

Eren shrugged, crossing one leg over the other. His face grew skeptical, almost as though he was beginning to question his own narrative. “Basically, he thinks you’re here to seduce me and get me to break up with him. He’s convinced his wife went through the effort to hire you, which has to mean that she’s _also_ gone through the effort of paying off the chief. I don’t like to think that my chief is corrupt enough to take a deal like that, and I don’t like to think you’d take on this job without actually being serious about it.”

Jean felt like he could throw up. That’s _exactly_ what had happened!!! Was Eren seriously dumb enough not to get it?!

“Just because _I’m_ a crooked cop doesn’t mean everyone else is . . .” Eren continued, looking at Jean with wide, sad eyes. “You’re not here under false pretenses, right?”

“Absolutely not,” Jean lied smoothly.

“Good! I knew you weren’t,” Eren said. “Anyways, we better get back to work. The sooner my shift ends, the sooner I can talk to him about this . . .”

“You’d better not apologize first,” Jean told him. “In fact, I wouldn’t apologize at all. If this guy cares about your feelings, he’ll apologize first and he’ll do it as soon as possible . . . unless, he really doesn’t give a damn about spending any time with you before he leaves you in favor of his family.”

Eren began to feel bad again, so he quickly ended the conversation with Jean and got back to work. He didn’t need this right now, because Jean was absolutely right. Since thinking about his future made him depressed, he often just didn’t think about it. And even though living in the present had (sort of) been working for him so far, he was making a mistake by not considering his life five to ten years from now. Levi may have been his boyfriend, but what did that mean in the future? What would it mean when Eren started to demand change?

What _if_ he wanted to move?

What _if_ he wanted kids of his own?

What _if_ he wanted to get married?

This was stupid . . . who cared about the what ifs when he and Levi were in a fight and not on speaking terms . . .

He hadn’t even really done anything wrong either! Levi was wrong about Jean, so Eren didn’t think he needed to blame himself for their current situation. What he _really_ needed was more sleep . . . 

* * *

After work, Jean decided he’d endured enough suffering at the hands of Eren, so he was quick to exit the building and make his way to his vehicle. Being a police officer was one of the worst jobs he’d ever done. Of course, he’d gone undercover for many jobs, but this police shit was bore to the ing! While there was no way in hell he was confident enough to wield a gun and face a _real_ life criminal, sitting around all day and watching Eren anxiously run around and drink copious amounts of coffee wasn’t anything to brag about. The sooner he could get Eren to dump Levi though, the sooner he’d have his ten grand. He wondered what he was going to do with it first . . .

Seeing his car in the distance, he breathed a sigh of relief and briefly looked to see if anyone else happened to be driving before confidently marching across the parking lot. However, a few loud voices from around the corner stopped him in his tracks. Right away he could tell it was Eren arguing with another male, and while Jean normally would have left Eren to fight his own battles, he had a feeling he was arguing with the infamous Levi, so he _had_ to go and take a peak.

“I told you I told him no!” Eren shouted. “Why isn’t that good enough for you? Why do you insist on fighting with me?? Why can’t we just drop this??”

Jean couldn’t help but be shocked at the desperation in Eren’s voice. Eren told him he was in love with this guy but _jeez_ – was he really worth _this_? And had Levi just showed up to Eren’s place of work unannounced? Talk about creepy . . .

“I’m not fighting you!” Levi shouted back.

“Yes, you are! I’m telling you he’s _not_ working for Petra!”

“And I’m telling you he is! Before I left the café to find you, she told me that if you think you’ve seen crazy, think again! She _would_ go this far, brat! I’ve known her for almost as many years as you’ve been alive! I _know_ what I’m talking about!”

“Jean wouldn’t do this! He’s my friend! He wouldn’t betray me!”

Right before Jean was about to interrupt them, he paused, listening to what Eren had just said . . .

Uh oh . . .

He knew this feeling straight away: _guilt_. Something about hearing Eren insist they were friends rubbed him the wrong way. He desperately tried to get a grip on himself, thinking back to the annoying conversation he’d had with Eren about the difference between his name and ‘Erin/Eren,’ but it wasn’t working. Like Petra had told him, Eren definitely wasn’t the brightest tool in the shed, and for the first time in his life, Jean was beginning to feel bad about deceiving someone. Poor Eren . . . here he was, a guy without very many friends, dating an older man who had to juggle him and his wife and child, _and_ he was getting betrayed by someone who he considered a friend.

Yes, Eren was annoying.

Yes, Eren initially came off as creepy.

Yes, Eren was voluntarily inserting himself into a family and tearing a husband and wife apart, but . . . he wasn’t a bad guy. If anyone was a bad guy, Jean realized, it was him . . .

“You _may_ be friends,” Levi said, continuing the conversation. “But it won’t last long, because as soon as he succeeds in ripping us apart, he’ll conveniently quit and take his dirty money to Hawaii where he’ll spend it all on hookers and cocaine and _you’ll_ be left behind with _nothing_!!!”

Okay, that was it. He _had_ to intervene at this point!

“But –

“Eren,” Jean interrupted him, bravely walking up to the pair. “Don’t listen to him. You _are_ my friend, okay?”

Eren’s mouth dropped open in shock, but he quickly regained his composure and turned back to Levi, chest puffed and hands on his hips. “See??”

Levi ignored him. “I know you’re working for my wife, kid! How much is she offering you?”

“Levi!” Eren growled. “He _just_ said –

“I’ll double it if you just admit you’re working for her and back off. Stupid, petty bullshit like this isn’t beneath her, so come clean. _Now_.”

Jean hesitated, eyes widening at the offer. Okay . . . well, this might have changed things . . .”

Unfortunately for Eren, Levi kept increasing the stakes. “In fact, name your price. Go ahead. _Admit_ you were hired by her so this brat can get his heart broken and come back to me where he belongs.” 

Name his price?

Jean licked his lips, nervously glancing between Eren and Levi, wondering what he should do. He _just_ defended his relationship with Eren and said they were friends. Although . . . receiving double, or even _triple_ ten-thousand dollars to betray Eren was a pretty sweet deal. However, would that be a mistake, seeing as Levi had no _real_ incentive to pay him if he came clean? Levi could promise to pay him until he was blue in the face, but if this guy was brave enough to lie in order to cheat on his wife, surely he wouldn’t have a problem lying right now! Where did these people get all of this money anyways? How could they be _this_ rich?? It just wasn’t fair! Instead of putting their money into the economy in an honest way, Petra was perfectly fine with paying him to break her husband and his lover up, and there was _no way in hell_ Eren bought that Tesla on a police salary!

Levi wasn’t going to pay him, so trusting him was a no go. At the same time, could he _really_ convince Eren to break up with Levi?? Especially with everything that was happening?? Jean had never felt so out of control of something in his life. He was just rooted in place, sweating like a pig, eyes darting between the two men before him like a pinball in a machine.

“Don’t answer,” Levi stated, relieving him of the building tension. “Your silence speaks volumes. Let’s go, Eren.”

“Jean?” Eren asked, head slightly lowered as he stared innocently at him. “You’re not working for anyone, right?”

“N-no. I’m not, Eren.”

“Do you promise?”

Jean felt like dying. Why couldn’t Eren go back to being annoying so it was easier to lie to him?!

“Yeah . . .”

Eren looked as though he was contemplating whether he should believe him or not, but he eventually sighed, the exhale of air long and drawn out as though he were defeated. “. . . Jean, I was trained when it comes to interrogating people. I know how to identify micro expressions, which means I can tell when someone is lying. I think, in this case, you don’t even need to be trained to know you’re lying . . .”

Shit.

This was over.

Petra was going to hire a hitman to kill him with the remaining seven thousand dollars he _wouldn’t_ be getting.

Instead of hearing his apology (which would have been sincere, since he _did_ feel bad) Eren simply walked away from him and got into his car. Both he and Levi left, making Jean feel as though he was getting abandoned by his friends. However, that wasn’t the case. Levi wasn’t his friend at all, and while he’d had a potential friendship with Eren, he’d thrown it all away because he hesitated to _properly_ defend their relationship.

To make matters worse, his cell phone started to ring, and without even touching his phone, Jean knew _exactly_ who it was.

* * *

Eren felt sad.

He apologized to Levi for not believing him when he had obviously been right this whole time, but he still felt way more upset than was probably justified. He knew Jean for what? A day? And he was acting like this? Really, he was pathetic.

“It’s not your fault,” Levi told him, reaching out and ruffling Eren’s hair. “Blame your shitty, corrupt police chief for accepting Petra’s little donation.”

“If that’s _seriously_ what happened, I feel even worse,” Eren mumbled. “Police are supposed to be the good guys.”

“Well, if your chief has any decency, he won’t pocket all of it. I’m sure there are plenty of things he could spend it on that would benefit his team.”

“Okay, and? Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

Levi shrugged, leaning back against the large, square pillows on his bed. Petra was out and had taken Madeline with her for the time being, so he had some time to relax with Eren before he needed to send him home. Having Eren in his home was always pleasant, but seeing Eren so depressed wasn’t allowing him to enjoy their time to the fullest.

“Just be glad we busted his ass before things had gotten worse. It wouldn’t have been long before you fell in love with him and dumped me.”

Eren turned around to look at him over his shoulder, eventually rolling onto his stomach and grabbing a pillow to hold underneath him. “Don’t be dumb. Jean isn’t my type and I told him I love you a thousand times. I tell _you_ I love you a thousand times.”

“It’s not enough.”

“What more do you want from me?”

“Until you’re here where I can see you every day and be with you whenever I want, it won’t be enough.”

Eren frowned. “Don’t remind me that we can’t be together every day. It makes me sad to think about it. I’m already lonely seventy percent of my time because no one at work really likes me, and the one guy I thought I was becoming friends with ended up being hired to ruin my love life.”

After admitting to being lonely, Eren abandoned the pillow and crawled over to Levi, casually climbing on top of him and relaxing. With their hips flush and noses touching, Eren breathed a sigh of relief when Levi reciprocated and put his arms around his waist.

“I guess we’re not fighting anymore?”

“Guess not,” Levi said.

“Why did you walk out on me yesterday?” Eren whined. “That was mean.”

“Because you were annoying me.”

“. . . So, I’m annoying when I’m not sucking your dick? Good to know.”

Levi scoffed at the notion. “Tch, it’s not like that at all. I shouldn’t have walked out. I should have just thrown you down and had my way with you like I wanted to.”

“You can _now_ if you want to . . .”

Levi contemplated Eren’s offering for a good half a second before flipping their positions and pinning Eren to the bed, capturing his mouth in a slow, deep kiss. It was much too slow for how little time they probably had, but he couldn’t be assed to think about Petra coming home and finding them. Instead, he slid his hands underneath Eren’s shirt and along his torso, gently massaging his soft skin until his fingers met with a perky nipples. Eren eagerly sat up to remove his shirt before assuming his submissive position once again. Levi could howl to the moon when Eren impatiently guided his head to his chest, looking down at him with pleading eyes that practically begged him to suck his nipples like some horny teenager.

Levi complied with Eren’s silent request, enclosing his right nipple in his mouth and feeling Eren tense under him. Small moans of encouragement escaped Eren’s lips as the brunette absentmindedly scratched his fingers along the back of Levi's neck – something that Levi thoroughly enjoyed. He could feel Eren’s fingers grabbing fistfuls of the back of his shirt, and he allowed him to pull it off before returning to Eren’s chest where he continued to lick and suck dark, purple marks onto Eren’s skin.

“Hurry . . .” Eren demanded, although the demand sounded more like a whimper. “Please.”

“Don’t rush me,” Levi growled, speaking against Eren’s skin as he slowly worked his way down.

Eren went rigid, obeying the command and waiting patiently as Levi took his time with him. By now his dick was screaming for attention, and the pain had him trying to remember the last time he and Levi had had sex. It couldn’t have been _that_ long ago, but as always, it felt like forever since those strong hands were gripping his hips and holding him still as Levi pounded into him from above . . . and below . . . and from the side . . . and in various locations, however Eren couldn’t bring himself to recount them all at this time. Instead he just laid there and enjoyed the experience, trying not to appear too excited when Levi ripped off his pants and underwear. He knew by now that the more impatient he appeared, the longer Levi would deny him.

“Adorable as always,” Levi breathed, watching Eren’s eyes shift to the side in order to avoid his gaze.

Eren murmured something, causing Levi to raise a brow as he leaned down towards Eren’s mouth in order to properly hear him.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

Eren giggled, licking his lips. “I said I know . . .”

“Confident are we?”

“Yes.”

Levi was stunned by Eren’s answer. He usually shied away from compliments and tried to remain as modest as possible, so this was a pleasant surprise. It was certainly not an undesirable change of pace, and even though Levi gave him an opportunity to take it back, Eren remained quiet.

“I see,” he chuckled, watching Eren’s face heat up in embarrassment. “Oh wait, there he is.”

“Shut up!” Eren whined, squeezing his eyes shut. “You’re embarrassing me . . .”

“Good.”

Eren was about to scold him again when he could feel Levi’s lips dangerously close to his inner thigh, and he stopped for fear of prolonging this any longer. The moment he’d finally been waiting for took place when Levi’s tongue was suddenly licking along his shaft, slowly and torturously so as to not reward him just yet.

“Please,” Eren begged, whining when Levi manually placed his legs over his shoulders. “Actually, _please_ just give it to me. I’m tired of waiting.”

“Whoa bossy. Not until I’ve had my fun.”

Making his brat whine was one of Levi’s favorite pastimes, however he decided not to torture him any longer, sinking down on Eren’s cock until his nose was buried in his pubic hair.

“Yessss,” Eren moaned, arching his back when Levi sucked him harder, alternating his speed in a way that was sure to make him come undone in a matter of minutes. Eren wanted to be brave and properly thrust into Levi’s throat like he envisioned himself doing, but due to his legs being over Levi’s shoulders, he’d once again surrendered all of his control. Levi was holding his hips still, his grip firm as though he were informing him that he wasn’t allowed to move on his own. Or maybe Eren was just imagining it, since every time they had sex, he was more than willing to fully submit to Levi as though he were his slave.

Eren loved it though, tangling all ten of his fingers into Levi’s hair and spreading his legs wider. The heat in the pit of his stomach was unbearable now, and while the first orgasm was always incredible, he _lived_ for that second one that was always three times more intense because it was _slightly_ painful, but in a good way . . .

“Mmm Levi . . .” he panted, trying not to rip Levi’s hair out of his head.

“Hmm?” Levi asked, and the vibrations nearly sent Eren into a state of unconsciousness.

“Oh _God_ . . .” Eren choked, his eyes squeezing shut. “Nng! Ahh, s-so good . . .”

* * *

Petra silently fumed to herself as she unlocked the door to her home and Madeline went rushing into her room. So, not only had Jean failed to do what he was hired to do, but to make matters worse, the Tesla Levi had foolishly gifted Eren was in their driveway. She had a feeling they’d be gossiping about her after this whole debacle took place. They were probably laughing at her, mocking her, calling her an idiot for thinking she could _ever_ come in between them, and a bunch of other gross nonsense she didn’t want to think about. At this point she had run out of options. Not only was she pretty confident in the fact that Jean was going to be able to break them up, but should he happen to fail, she would have expected him to fail over the course of a few _weeks_. Somehow her whole plan had come undone in two days!

Was she going to have to give up? Could they really not be separated? Who could love someone _that_ much to suffer through such a shitty arrangement?? She was constantly breathing down Levi’s neck (something Petra was _very_ proud of) and Eren had to go each day wondering if his own “boyfriend” could make time for him! It was stupid! Who voluntarily lived like that?!

Normally she’d pace in the living room and silently imagine ways to kill them both, but her brain had turned to mush over the course of the day and all she wanted to do was take a nap. Where the hell were Eren and Levi? They were both here, although she hadn’t heard them yet. She assumed they’d be talking in the living room, however there were plenty of empty rooms in the house so maybe –

What the – ?

She better _not_ have heard what she just heard . . . because if she did –

“Fuck, brat! I am going to _destroy_ you!”

“P-please destroy me!! Please!”

Petra ran into her bedroom faster than she’d ever done anything in her life. Throwing open the door, she screamed out a garbled mixture of “what the fuck” and “oh my God,” staring in horror at the scene before her. Without hearing anything they might have happened to say to her, she grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a large, antique jewelry box her mother gifted her, and hurled it at them with strength comparable to the hulk.

Levi flew backwards and shoved Eren forwards, barely missing the heavy box that would have surely knocked him unconscious if it’d hit him.

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!?!” Petra screamed, grabbing at her own hair as though she were trying to rip it all out. Actually, she _needed_ to rip some of it out. If she didn’t channel her anger somewhere, _everyone_ in this room was going to die _**right now**_ **.**

“Did you just attempt to assault me in my own home?!” Levi asked, turning to Eren who was on the floor, clutching a pillow in an attempt to hide his nudity. “She’s under arrest for that! Petra, you’re going to jail!”

“WHAT?! _You’re_ under arrest for sleeping with someone else in _my_ bed!”

“Eren, handcuff her!”

“I _dare_ him to get near me,” she growled, turning to Eren slowly, eyes wide and bloodshot with rage. “I _dare_ you . . . If you even _touch_ me with your filthy hands, I’ll slit your skinny neck open!”

“We’ll go ahead and add threatening an officer to your list of charges.”

“SHUT UP, LEVI! You’re dead! Do you hear me?! DEAD!”

She lunged at him, deciding to strangle him since she didn’t have any weapons on hand. He managed to grab her wrists and hold them together above her head, daring to tell her to calm down. Calm down? She _was_ calm, and had already considered the list of possibilities on how to properly assess the situation. There was nothing left to do other than to kill them both. She didn’t fear jail – as _if_ her parents would allow it! With money and a good lawyer, she could get away with anything, including first degree murder!

“Petra! That’s enough!” Levi yelled, throwing her onto the ground. “Don’t make me hurt you!”

“Hurt me?!” she yelled back, kneeing him in the balls and watching him fall to the ground. “You should be worried about yourself! Now, where is that homewrecking, loud-mouthed, long-necked, little piece of – AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

“I’m sorry, Petra!” Eren apologized, pepper spraying her until she was on the ground screaming and writhing in pain. “You left me no choice!”

“FUCK YOU BOTH!!” she cried, hands over her eyes as she thrashed on the ground. “FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK –

“Shut up!” Levi yelled at her. “Madeline can probably hear your psychotic ass!”

“I don’t want to hear her name come out of your disgusting mouth _ever_ again!!!”

“I don’t know what to do,” Eren sighed, watching Petra on the ground and thinking she looked very similar to a cockroach on its back. “I _can’t_ arrest her. She has a right to be upset.”

Levi rolled his eyes. “She hurled a seventy-pound jewelry box at our heads and threatened to kill us both. If _you_ don’t arrest her, I’ll do it.”

“No. It’s the holidays and –

Petra cut him off, standing back up and this time lunging at Eren, desperate to separate his skin from his face. “Come here, you little shit! Let me claw your eyes out!”

Levi grabbed her again, pinning her arms behind her back and forcing her to the ground. “Give me your cuffs, brat. _Now_.”

“LEVI! Don’t you _dare_!” Petra screamed, kicking and flailing about even harder than before. “If you arrest me and send me to jail, you _will_ be sorry! I won’t be there long enough for you two to run and hide! Don’t do it!”

She felt the cold metal against her wrists followed by the sensation of the cuffs digging into her skin. Having her own husband put handcuffs on her because he _wanted_ her to go to jail was the last straw. She ended up screaming so loud and for so long, police sirens could eventually be heard from outside, and Eren frantically rushed to put his clothes on as fast as he could.

“Great. Someone called the police,” Eren murmured.

“Tch. _Good_ ,” Levi scoffed.

“Not good,” Eren corrected him. “This is embarrassing. How am I supposed to explain why I couldn’t subdue and arrest her on my own?”

“Should have thought about that before you thought about her feelings.”

“My _feelings_???” Petra screamed, staring hard at Eren. She eagerly ate up the small amount of humility he showed, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing would _ever_ be enough. “Are you serious?! When have you _ever_ considered my feelings, Eren?!”

Eren quieted down, nervously shifting from foot to foot as Petra addressed him directly. Instead of answering her, he just quietly excused himself and left to get the door. On his way there he could see Madeline waiting at the top of the stairs, probably wondering what the commotion was all about.

“Eren!”

He forced himself to smile at her before calmly ordering her to go and wait in her room. She rushed away, eager to comply with his demand and please him. Madeline was such a good child – she didn’t deserve what was currently happening, even if it wasn’t directly happening _to_ her. Eren wondered if things would ever get easier . . .

“Merry _fucking_ Christmas, Levi! BURN IN HELL!!” Petra was screaming, and he groaned audibly at the mess he’d created, or rather, _exacerbated._ There was just never a dull moment with Levi it seemed . . .

**Author's Note:**

> I don't condone cheating. Please respect your partners lol


End file.
